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Jen White-Johnson (she/they) is a distinguished Afro-Latina artist, activist, designer, and educator, whose creative expressions delve into the intersection of content and caregiving. With a profound focus on reshaping ableist visual culture, Jen, an artist-educator grappling with Graves disease and ADHD, brings a heart-centered and electric approach to disability advocacy. Her invaluable contributions to these movements manifest through powerful and dynamic art and media that simultaneously educate, bridge divergent worlds, and envision a future reflective of her Autistic son's experiences. Jen's activism extends to collaborations with notable brands and art spaces, including Coachella, Target, and Adobe, both in print and digital realms. Her photography and design work have gained recognition in esteemed publications such as Art in America, Juxtapoz Magazine, AfroPunk, and she has contributed insightful essays to publications like "After Universal Design: The Disability Design Revolution" and "An Anthology of Blackness." Notably, Jen's work is permanently archived at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National African American Museum of History and Culture in DC.

Jen holds a BA in Visual Art from The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she also imparts her knowledge as a current instructor, Jen resides in Baltimore, MD, with her husband and 11-year-old son.

About the Kemeny Lecture Series:
The series has been made possible by the Matthias D. Kemeny Charitable Fund.The Matthias D. Kemeny Design Lecture Series is coordinated and managed by the Portland State Graphic Design program. This series brings internationally celebrated design professionals to Portland annually to give a lecture for the benefit of the program's students and faculty, as well as the broader design community. The series is free and open to the public and highlights a wide range of design practices in an attempt to facilitate a community-wide dialogue about design and related fields. The Matthias D. Kemeny Charitable Fund has made the series possible.