MPavilion is Australia’s leading architecture commission: a place for debate around the design of today and tomorrow. It’s a meeting place on the stolen land of the people of the Eastern Kulin Nation, in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens.

Annually, a series of MTalks are hosted at MPavilion. Crossing Borders: Immigrant Women Designers and the Built Environment will be discussed at 5pm on Sunday 28 January 2024.

Explore the experiences, challenges, and stories of migrant female built environment practitioners working in Australia. Through discussing the challenges they have faced and overcome, this panel hopes to foster a deeper understanding of the obstacles that female migrant designers encounter in their professional lives as well as how it plays into their interests in the chosen field.

The discussion will delve into the complex interplay between design, culture, identity, and migration, considering the diverse stories, tensions, and interactions these designers and academics have within the Australian context. By inviting these culturally and linguistically diverse designers and academics to speak about their experience, this talk aims to provide a platform for these marginalised groups to build communities and bonds, and explore how their cultural backgrounds and identities shape their interests and professional practices.

This event is an outcome of the 2023 M_Curators program, which supports young and ambitious art, design, and creative workers to gain practical experience in developing and curating public events and programs.

The panel includes OCULUS Student Landscape Architect Keren Maina, a Kenyan landscape architect passionate about the empowerment, recognition and celebration of African designers and practitioners. Keren is a strong believer in the power of communities and their ability to create brighter urban futures.