Ally Zlatar

Ally Zlatar is the founder of The Starving Artist. It is an artist initiative that helps broaden perspectives on Eating Disorders and Mental Illness through the artistic voice. She also founded The Starving Artist Scholarship Fund which helps people access inpatient treatment for eating disorders. Her "This Body of Mine" campaign explores the 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; winner of The Princess Diana Legacy Award 2021, Y20 Award Finalist for Diversity and Inclusion (Youth 20 by G20 Summit) and also special recognition from The British Citizen Award 2022. Exploring art-making as a methodology that suggests the human condition is more complex than it is currently understood. Zlatar examines, instigates and provokes notions of the individual experience by focusing on the themes of illness, vulnerability, and authenticity of one’s lived-in experience. Zlatar explores her personal narratives and life experiences to guide her exploration of self-identity and self-perception in our modern discourse. She utilizes auto-ethnographic experiences and art as a catalyst for change-making. 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 of Creative Arts is with the University of Southern Queensland focusing on embodied experiences of eating disorders in contemporary art. Zlatar is a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow (Anderson College, GIC), KICL London, and the University of Essex (UEIC). Ally acknowledges power within the un-well body and believes there is tremendous value and potency by examining it through the contemporary art lens. Zlatar uses her work as a form of art activism to continuously interpret, communicate and facilitate discourse to make a difference in society.