09: Lyla Catellier on Designing Infrastructure for Change: Celine Semaan, Slow Factory and Everything is Political
My creative practice requires me to constantly survey the field. What cultural conversations are emerging? Who is creating for their community? What do we need? My life’s work has emerged and evolved along with social media. I see these platforms as an opportunity to create connections and share knowledge as an egalitarian network. We can critique the use of social media, with all of its corporate surveillance and artificial intelligence, but not in a 30-second review. Informative infographics have been a staple of human connection (co-education and activism) for all of recorded time; now, stapling the poster to the proverbial lightpole occurs on social media, and Slow Factory is typesetting the revolution. Celine Semaan, co-founder of Slow Factory and its publication Everything is Political, is an artist and activist based in New York with roots in the Levant. Since 2012, she has been explaining issues of social and climate justice in modern, graphically stunning, shareable posts with a platform that has gathered nearly a million followers and untold shares. I consider this work a critical entrypoint for young or recently awakened people who feel the twinge of injustice but do not know exactly where to start. Take, for example, a collaborative post with the New Economy Coalition from February of 2025 that explains Fascism vs Solidarity with 10,000 likes—in seven slides, it defines not only Fascism, but how it shows up in American life, and what are the strategies we have to fight it. This post cites sources; draws attention to an important, people-powered organization with affiliations all over the United States that anyone can get involved with; and most importantly, never shames the novice for not yet understanding the nuances of the issue. It’s beautiful, it's informative, and it contains a call to action for further investigation—in short, art that makes a better world possible.
– Lyla, December 2025
Lyla Catellier is the Curator of Public Programs at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, where they develop programming that deepens engagement with and understanding of Contemporary art, especially through experimental interdisciplinary performance. They also organize community-based programming as the Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee for the People of Palmer Park, a non-profit working together with the city of Detroit to celebrate the renaissance of the city's most spectacular public park. Throughout their 20 years in cultural organizations and educational institutions, they have specialized in public engagement, creating opportunities for conversation and working with artists to develop their practices. They have previously worked for Columbia University in the City of New York’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the Chicago Architecture Center, and Elastic Arts Foundation. They received their Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012 and hold a Bachelor of Arts in Art History with minors in Art Education and Fine Arts, focusing on sculpture from the University of West Florida in 2009.
