The Tech Policy Press Podcast Through to Thriving: Connecting Art and Policy with Mimi Ọnụọha
Nov 2, 2025
Mimi Ọnụọha, a visual artist known for exploring the intersections of data, technology, and societal power dynamics, shares her thought-provoking insights. She discusses the evolution of data terminology and reveals how art can bear witness to the realities of authoritarianism. With fascinating examples like her Catcalling Intervention, Mimi highlights the importance of recognizing missing data sets. She advocates for deeper collaboration between artists and policy practitioners to imagine a more just future, emphasizing the need to question whose interests technology truly serves.
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Artists As Witnesses
- Mimi Ọnụọha defines artists as witnesses who reveal difficult realities, not just self-expressors.
- She argues artists tune perception and translate reality into forms others can handle.
Artists Shape Political Futures
- Mimi says artists often lead post-colonial nation-building and policy thinking.
- In moments of upheaval, artists shift perspectives and help reimagine governance and identity.
Catcalling Intervention And Data Lessons
- Mimi describes the Catcalling intervention where she handed catcallers a fake number tied to automated texts.
- The experiment produced a dataset of callers and taught her to view data collection as a relationship.
