As we welcome new people to the FEELed Lab, we want to make space for longer introductions to project team members and research affiliates joining us this year. This profile is on Michael V. Smith, who has been a FEELed Lab research affiliate for a while but is getting a new introduction with our new project: Untapping Watershed Relations.
- Can you tell us about your work/research?
My work most often explores ideas of community and belonging, but lately I’ve been also examining how that intersects with gender. I recognize genders and genres, but I don’t believe in either of them, meaning I can recognize the broad pattern stereotypes of both gender and genre, but believe that each person, in every moment, is a unique gender, just as each book is its own thing. I work across a variety of forms, from writing to performance art to film to sewing to visual art to drag.
2. Why did you want to work with the FEELed Lab?
I’m super invested in the affective—how we feel in the world, how the world makes us feel, how we might craft and cultivate deeper and wiser feeling. Much of my work around belonging grew out of my own despair in the world, because I was a deeply lonely and misunderstood child. I was a hider, who didn’t do a very good job of hiding what made me vulnerable. The FEELed Lab is a great place for someone wanting to do feeling-repair work. I also love how this labour is geared outwards, to make the world a better place for all beings. I’m learning how to be a better neighbour on the planet, and so this is a great place to learn. Climate justice, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, feminism, social justice, and all the caring work are deeply aligned with my values. I love what The FEELed Lab does, and who it attracts.
3. Why are expansive engagements with environmental issues important?
We are the environment, although many of us don’t recognize our impact on environments. Humans are having a massive impact on the world, at an accelerated rate, with not nearly enough checks and balances on the harm we’re doing. The future—which I dare not imagine often—feels way too bleak to me. So I want to expand my own engagement, and help others to expand theirs, so that we believe scientists again. So that we change the way we live…for the betterment of all creatures. We need to change the way we use the world, extract less, contribute more, so that we build a vibrant planet that can sustain us all. Expansive engagement is about teaching us how to have an ideological shift, a paradigm shift, that recognizes the ripple effects of our impact on the planet.
4. What are you most excited about regarding our water in woodhaven project?
I’m most excited to see the science-informed art that we’re going to make. Eco-art that integrates science research is one of the sexiest things around.
