Ally Zlatar
United Kingdom
Ally Zlatar is an artist, scholar and activist. She is the founder of The Starving Artist; an artist initiative that utilizes creative voices as a way to create advocacy and systemic reform. She also founded The Starving Artist Scholarship Fund which helps people access inpatient treatment for eating disorders. Her "This Body of Mine" campaign explores migrant experiences through creative voices and has helped support individuals and artists from refugee-seeking backgrounds globally. Ally Zlatar has received the highest accolade a young person can achieve for their humanitarian work; such as the Commonwealth Innovation Awards (2023), winner of The Princess Diana Legacy Award (2021), the King Hamad Award for Youth Empowerment 2022, Lieutenant Governor's Community Volunteer Award from Ontario Government of Canada 2023 and also special recognition from The British Citizen Award 2022. Zlatar uses art as a tool to delve into the complexity of the human experience, particularly focusing on neurodivergent experiences, eating disorders and our relationships to our bodies. Her work draws from personal experiences & and auto-ethnography to drive change. She recognizes the power of examining the unwell body and utilizes art as a means of activism, aiming to spark dialogue and create societal impact.
The artists' stories
"The Vibrant Mind" is an art contest that celebrates artistic expression from individuals with mental health conditions. By focusing on the artists' work rather than their various diagnoses, it hopes to promote a stigma-free and inclusive environment.
That being said, the participants were given the option to share their background stories if they wished to do so.
