funded by passion
furthered by mission
Mission
The DAI˚ALOGUE is a conscious storytelling platform founded by designer and photographer Emma Dai in 2020 and brought to life in its current form in 2024.
What is “conscious storytelling”, you ask?1 Put briefly, it’s telling stories with intention and championing an awareness of the way we communicate. It’s understanding how narratives are shaped by a multitude of factors—race, class, education, experience, relationships, politics, etcetera; acknowledging the impact that these narratives have on their subject matter and a wider audience; and crafting narratives responsibly to represent people and events in an authentic way. It’s a rejection of attention grabs, clickbait and all the other contemporary media techniques that have exploded in recent years to encourage blind and mindless consumption while deepening our distrust and intolerance of views and communities we don’t ascribe to.2
That’s not to say there’s no value in meme culture: it’s become an important and necessary part of how we connect with each other in the age of technology, and also a salve for an otherwise dark and difficult world. Rather, the concept of “conscious storytelling” describes the overarching recognition of an appropriate time, place and purpose for content. It’s an ability to critically analyse and consider the context of information. It’s thinking before acting and treating perspective and knowledge as evolving situations rather than absolute truths.
The DAI˚ALOGUE aims to use conscious storytelling to engage people in discussions around current issues, dedicating a portion of profits generated from its activities to the support of vulnerable communities. Its mission is to make progress towards a fairer, more equitable world, through a range of creative content, programmes, projects and events. In time I’d like to invite the possibility of contributors and partnerships to amplify its reach and impact, while retaining a steadfast commitment to real connection and sustainable practices—it is a brand insofar as it carries a logo and merchandise, but ultimately it honours my interests and dreams and it would be unethical of me to pretend otherwise. I’m the one foraging for ideas and developing them into published work; I’m behind the screen, the camera and most other apparatus; I’m fielding the interactions and handling anything hurtful. What happens here will keep me up at night but will also keep me going. So hopefully, somewhere along the way, my work will mean something to you, and a few others.
Warmest wishes,
Emma Dai
Founder & DAI˚RECTOR
Emma Dai
Founder & DAI˚RECTOR
Founder photo credit: self-portrait shot at Candid Studios, November 2024
- For fear of being mistaken as an invocation of Goop.
- At the time of writing, the plural pronoun “we” is very much my observation projected onto the global community. It is based on opinion more than fact.