Kathleen Connellan

Kathleen Connellan is a senior lecturer in design history and theory in the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia. Her practice and publications focus upon how and why interior spaces and the objects in them can alienate some people and yet include others. She has researched and published on issues of marginalisation in disability, race, gender and culture with her most recent work concentrating specifically upon mental health and the design for a therapeutic milieu. She has had numerous leadership roles in design research over the past decades where her concern has always been to link an understanding of art, architecture and design with ethical issues in visual representation and human involvement. She is most interested in putting the person at the centre of the designed environment and investigating the cues for healing and a experiencing a sense of home in institutional spaces. Key publications include:
Connellan, K. Gaardboe, M, Riggs, D, Due, C, Reinschmidt, A & Mustillo, L. (2013). Stressed Spaces: Mental Health and Architecture, a review of the literature. Health Environments Research and Design Journal(HERD), 6, no.4, 127–168.
Connellan, K. (2013). The Psychic Life of White: power and space. Organization Studies, 34, no. 10, 15329 – 1549.
Connellan, K. (2013). Parrēsia: between principles and practices in design. Annual Review: International journal of Design Principles. 6, 11-22.
Connellan, K. (2012). The Social Politics of White. In M. De Long & B. Martinson (Eds.) Color and Design. Berg.
Connellan, K. (2010). White and fitted: perpetuating modernisms. Design Issues, 26, no.3., 51-62.
Connellan, K. (2009). Washing White. In B. Baird & D.W. Riggs (Eds.), The Racial Politics of Bodies, Nations and Knowledges. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.