Tony is Palestinian. He has had to leave home and live in Jordan "just to stay sane". Tony shares how living in an environment of violence has impacted him.  

Ezra's portrait and this audio story are part of our "Labelled" Exhibit. Ezra's label is "HESHE". Ezra was born biologically female and realized at a young age they definitely were not a girl. Ezra shares their experience of living outside of binary gender boxes. They provide some suggestions on how we can avoid making gender assumptions, acknowledging that there are as many genders as there are people on the planet.  

Kris' portrait and this audio story are part of our "Labelled" Exhibit. Kris' label is "BROKEN". Kris shares his personal experience dealing with mental health issues. "No one wants to admit that there's something wrong, because you can't see it," says Kris. As a bigger guy with tattoos, he explains that people are surprised when they learn his story. As he has become more open about his journey, he has also come to see that many people around him are able to relate to it.  

Jana is an artist and the curator of ‘Dear Disability’, a project dedicated to fostering openness and acceptance around people with disabilities and their experience. Jana experiences a learning disability herself and aims to advocate for people with disabilities and artists with disabilities by displaying portraits and letters of diverse individuals who are willing to be vulnerable and authentic with their life stories. Jana’s exhibit was featured in Empathy Week 2017.  

Nirvana is a mental health advocate and strives to challenge the limited ideas and beliefs surrounding mental health in our society. Suffering with Anxiety herself, she realized how stigma became a barrier to her healing. She is a strong believer that to create more empathy and less stigma, we need to hear individual experiences and stories of both the struggles one can go through AND healings to be found.