Beyond the single story of pain.
In living beyond, Oriana Unaji paints a Black family in joy and abundance, challenging assumptions about whose lives and experiences are represented in contemporary art.
Explore Oriana’s paintingChangemaker Lens / The exhibition
Art, voices and lived experience
A different way of seeing / 01
Look again.
And again.
There is never only one way to see the world. Changemaker Lens brings together artists and storytellers asking us to notice what is overlooked, question what is familiar and look through someone else’s eyes.
Enter the exhibitionThe exhibition is one part of Changemaker Lens, our wider storytelling strand. Its 23 contributors are not the same group as the fifteen Fellowship participants, although some people take part in both.
Many starting points.
Nothing to flatten into one story.
Art is not an illustration of change. It can change what we notice.
How to look
A conversation between
many perspectives.
The work crosses painting, poetry, comics, photography, installation and film. Some pieces are intimate. Others confront institutions, memory, public narratives and power.
You do not have to agree with each perspective. Start by looking closely, listening carefully and asking whose story is missing.
01 / Bodies and the stories we tell
What stays
out of view?
Ore Adedeji’s It’s not a bed of roses advocates for women’s reproductive health. Women’s accounts form part of the work, asking us to look beyond the surface of the portrait.
Ore Adedeji · Painting
Explore Ore’s work
02 / Connection without a template
Love takes
more than one form.
In Overcome, Archie and Milo’s developing friendship opens up questions of identity, asexuality and relationships beyond conventional romantic expectations.
This ongoing narrative uses the five senses to explore how connection is formed and understood.
Mali Merttens · Comic & zine
Explore the illustrated story
03 / Movement and survival
Movement as a way of holding on.
Drawing on the mourning dance rooted in Iranian culture, Fatemeh Rangrazjeddi’s Still Moving Through is about surviving and continuing even when stopping feels impossible.
The figure is unsteady, but still moving. Fragile hopes remain.
Fatemeh Rangrazjeddi · Oil on canvas
Spend time with the painting04 / Across distance
Can witnessing
bring us closer?
Zhiyan Cai’s Portal: Those Far Away reflects on separation, imprisonment, interrupted futures and the fragile work of remembering. It asks whether witnessing can itself be an act of love and resistance.
Zhiyan Cai (Zhiyan Art) · Moving image & installation
Explore the full workPortal: Those Far Away · Short moving-image work
05 / Who gets to be seen?
Representation is never neutral.
Reclaiming the symbols of power.
Stéfan Weil’s To Be King places Black subjects at the centre of visual traditions from which they have often been excluded.
Explore Stéfan’s photograph06 / Identity is carried
What do we carry
with us?
Objects, memories and images hold more than they first appear to. These works trace culture, belonging, illness and the stories we inherit.
Victoria Venegas
Bolivian heritage, dress and the Ekeko become a story of hope, childhood and cultural pride.
Explore the textile work
Ally Zlatar
Art about the body, cultural narratives and refusing simplified ideas of illness or identity.
Explore Ally’s paintings
Ayesha Chouglay
Poetry, deafness and family memory meet in works designed for different forms of listening and encounter.
Listen to Ayesha’s workThe wider collection
Every voice
has its place.
Meet all 23 contributors. Some pages include images or film; others introduce the person and the contribution without reproducing the work. Each entry makes clear what is available.
01Ore AdedejiIt’s not a bed of rosesSelected images02Mali MerttensOvercomeSelected images03Fatemeh RangrazjeddiStill Moving ThroughSelected images04Oriana Unajiliving beyondSelected images05Victoria VenegasBolivian textile and storytelling workSelected images06Stéfan WeilTo Be KingSelected images07Ally ZlatarSelected paintingsSelected images08Zhiyan Cai (Zhiyan Art)Portal: Those Far AwayImages and film09Ayesha ChouglayListen to them cows beeling / East of Swallow StreetSelected images10LilyExhibition artwork and documentationSelected images11Io Marcela Manfredy ColonAssemblage workContributor introduction12Amir GarusianSelected portfolio worksContributor introduction13Alfiah Jade BrownTemiContributor introduction14SambamboQuartet recordings and unreleased song lyricsContributor introduction15Gracie MadsenCreative resilience and advocacyContributor introduction16FarihaFariha’s StoryContributor introduction17Mirabella Archibald (Keogh)The Peacemaker ProjectContributor introduction18A Youth in GazaBetween Despair and Hope – Voices from GazaContributor introduction19Wangu Chafuwamemento marginaliaContributor introduction20AdePerformance of Becoming / BamideleContributor introduction21Robin DarkerOrdinary and UniqueContributor introduction22Sydney EwingMoving editorialContributor introduction23Dalton ScottWriting and filmmakingContributor introduction
Shared with care
Look closely.
Hold your assumptions lightly.
The work and stories belong to their makers. Some pages show selected images or a film; others offer an introduction only. Each entry makes clear what is available.