May Hay Wan Shek

17 May – 19 Jun. 2024

May is the founder of Boundless Studio, a BIPOC women-owned multidisciplinary studio. May wears many hats as a designer, researcher, artist-bookmaker and educator with over 15 years of experience in designing better futures with and for communities and organizations. May tackle complex problems and ideas spans from democratizing STEM education with NASA to building a better safety net for unaccompanied immigrant children in the Bay Area with Stanford Impact Labs.

May creates through human-centered research to design artifacts, systems, and experiences with a community-driven and trauma-informed approach, always with the purpose of uncovering untold stories and building a more equitable and sustainable future. May believes that design and art is a way to build power and heal—using the power of storytelling to elevate unheard voices. Participatory design is key to May’s work, always designing new ways to connect with communities and audiences thought facilitated workshops and interactions. With a communications design background, May continues to explore storytelling in the form of bookmaking and printmaking—exploring new techniques and formats.

Advocating for diversity and gender equality is an integral part of May’s work. She is a mentor for the New Inc Incubator in the New Museum, part of the leadership team for Women In Innovation and founded The Take A Stand Project, a nonprofit collective of designers. May is currently an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute in the MFA communications design program, teaching design research with a social impact lens. May holds a master’s in branding from the School of Visual Arts. When she is not nerding out on equitable design, you will find her in the ocean surfing any waves she can hunt.

Pratt Institute
A top-ranked college with opportunities in art, design, architecture, liberal arts and sciences, and information studies, Pratt offers nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and serves 5,140 students. The Institute’s impact expands beyond its 25-acre residential campus in Brooklyn to cutting-edge facilities throughout the borough, a landmark building and public gallery in Manhattan, as well as an extension campus, PrattMWP College of Art and Design in Utica, New York. Since its founding in 1887, Pratt has prioritized diversity and inclusion, welcoming students from all walks of life while developing and sustaining pathways to more equitable workplaces and careers.