Zoja Kalinovskis is a lens-based visual artist from London with a primary focus on art activism, who believes that art can challenge the status quo, raise awareness and inspire collective action. As a disabled, neurodivergent, queer, non-binary artist, their work is inherently political and socially engaged. They aim to stimulate conversations about our collective humanity by exploring themes around race, disability, sexuality, gender, mental health and platform the voices of those who are marginalised by society.

 Zoja became disabled in 2017 which profoundly influenced their artistic practice and their recent series Unseen is a deeply personal project exploring disability. Disabled people constitute the largest minority group globally, with an estimated 1.3 billion individuals living with significant disabilities, yet representation in art and media remains woefully inadequate and tokenistic. Unseen aims to redefine what disability looks like by centering disabled people with both visible and invisible disabilities. Inspired by classical marble and bronze statues, Unseen celebrates disabled bodies as worthy of art instead of pity. This series envisions a world where the disabled body is not a rarity but a central and celebrated feature in the artistic landscape and beyond.

Zoja has won multiple awards including Portrait of Britain, AOP Emerging Talent Award, Lens Culture B&W Photography Award, VAA International Exhibition & Scholarship Prize and has exhibited in galleries across the UK, New York, Rome, Buenos Aires and Tokyo. They recently exhibited at Sotheby’s in London for a charity auction and have been a finalist for several awards including the John Ruskin Prize and the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

They/Them

@zojakalinovskis

Photo by Zoja Kalinovskis