Hello, I'm Kate McEntee. I was raised in a small city in northern Utah on the native land of the Eastern Shoshone and Goshute peoples. The organised colonisation of this land began in 1847 by the Mormon pioneers settling in the Salt Lake Valley. The influence of this particular settler-colonial history cultivated a homogenous, supermajority white, Christian environment throughout the area. From the moment I left I sought to immerse myself in places, experiences and cultures as different and diverse as I could find. I came to the practice of design from a background studying religious studies and international studies, and a career building storytelling strategy and courtroom presentations.
As a litigation consultant I worked closely with multidisciplinary teams to create visuals, animations and stories to explain complex technology and legal arguments for judges and juries. While in this role, I was also offered the opportunity to work with Stanford’s d.school, learning and then teaching human-centered design to creatively empower our clients (attorneys). I was captivated by the process, and needed to pursue a deeper, more skilful design practice.
My MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons School of Design allowed me to build and refine a project-based design practice, rooted in systems thinking and radical collaboration between different fields, approaches and people. This work fostered in me a critical approach to design and social practices.
Today you can find me as a PhD candidate in the WonderLab at MADA, Monash Art Design and Architecture, in Melbourne, Australia. Here I am studying and working on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri & Boonwurrung peoples of the east Kulin Nation.
You can read more about my research here, and you can view my resume here.