The Anthropolist-Designer

Ariel is a multidisciplinary artist, community-based anthropologist, and designer. Ariel is currently exploring, writing and creating around the concept of "decomposing as a social process" (read article), particularly as it relates to personal and systems-level reconciliation, reparation, and regeneration. As a fellow at NYU's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Ariel works with artists from around the world to better engage audiences with efforts related to ecological and human rights, particularly with the More-Than-Human Rights (MOTH) Program and Future of Rights and Governance Program (FORGE).

In Toronto, Ariel collaborates with Monumental Projects in support of community-based participatory research that informs emerging policies, upcoming urban developments, and the arts sector. In these projects, art-making is often central to the collaborative research and storytelling process.

Read the full story on #UXRConf Preview: Meet Ariel Sim

A Q&A on her career journey and what researchers can learn from design

March 2019

How did you get started in design research?

I wouldn’t call it an accident, but we definitely weren’t using the words “design research” and “user experience” where I started my career.

I worked for the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) right out of university. I went to the University of Arizona and had finished an interdisciplinary degree with a mix of course work in business, anthropology, political science, creative arts, entrepreneurship, and economics. Anthropology spoke to me the most of all the disciplines I worked with in my degree and I did most of my thesis through the School of Anthropology.

While in school and then for a few years after, I was a research technician at BARA. We did something called community action research or community-based participatory research. In that model, anthropologists don’t observe and record observations about culture — they participate inside of communities and help to create interventions that lift those communities up. There’s a big focus on agency and on understanding the very specific contexts and dynamics of a community before coming up with solutions (sounds a lot like human-centred design, doesn’t it?).

Read the full article here.

Past Awards Include

Fast Company Top 10 World Changing Idea: Politics & Policy (2020)

The Artist

A lifelong student of the arts, my practice incorporates music, dance, poetry and visual art. Currently developing a series of poems and sketches (the art of decomposing) exploring decomposition as life’s next great adventure. I released a debut EP in 2021 called Confessions in the Circle Volume I with accompanying music videos described by Canadian Beats as “a series of musical, cinematic reawakenings.”

The arts provide a space to explore personal story, love, and community. Called to soulful and traditional music from people of all walks of life, I'm drawn to music with: (1) confession, (2) harmony, and (3) walls of sound.

ORIGIN

I was born in the Canadian prairies, growing up in the sounds and performances of jazz, folk, and Celtic styles. I moved to Florida at a young age, where I was introduced to gospel, hip hop, and other American music styles. Later moving to the Arizona-Mexico border, I studied West African percussion, dance, and history at the University of Arizona with Praise Zenenga, Barbea Williams, and Mike Vercelli. I’ve been living in Toronto, Canada for the past decade, where my arts practice continues to grow and evolve.