Ally Zlatar

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 mental health treatment. 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 numerous accolades for humanitarian work; such as the Commonwealth Innovation Awards (2023), UNWomen 30 for 2030 (2024), winner of The Princess Diana Legacy Award (2021), King Hamad Award for Youth Empowerment (2022), the Lieutenant Governor's Community Volunteer Award from the Ontario Government of Canada (2023) and also special recognition from The British Citizen Award (2022).

She holds a BFA in Visual Art & Art History from Queen's University & an MLitt Curatorial Practice and Contemporary Art from the Glasgow School of Art. Her Doctorate in Creative Arts was completed at the University of Southern Queensland focusing on embodied experiences of mental illness in contemporary art. Zlatar is a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow and has taught at Glasgow International College, KICL London, and the University of Essex (UEIC).

Zlatar uses art as a tool to delve into the complexity of the human experience, particularly focusing on illness, vulnerability, and authenticity. Her work draws from personal experiences & auto-ethnography to drive change. She recognizes the power in examining the unwell body and utilizes art as a means of activism, aiming to spark dialogue and create societal impact.