TESTIMONIES OF CHANGE
A collaborative project with human rights activists from the network of Dutch NGO Hivos campaigning for climate justice, LGBTQ and women’s rights.
TESTIMONIES OF CHANGE
The Master Non Linear Narrative at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) takes the entanglement of relations in the global information society as a starting point to examine sociopolitical issues in collaboration with external partners. From September 2022 to April 2023, students of the programme collaborated with six independent human rights advocates related to the professional network of Dutch non-profit organisation Hivos to look into contemporary forms of activism. Paired with the activists, students have compiled new audio-based testimonies of transformational change in order to elevate the voices of communities leading the way in reimagining a more equitable and just future.
Testimonies of Change challenged students to understand the local effects of global injustices and connect to the lived experiences of activists campaigning for climate justice, LGBTQ and women’s rights in Namibia, Niger, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The goal was to build a platform of transdisciplinary knowledge-sharing centred around an embedded learning experience that allows for the exchange of topical expertise around activism and civic engagement. The professional and biographical background of the activists functioned as a starting point for investigation. Subsequently, communities related to their field of engagement acted as the first body of knowledge to give a priority of voice to those affected most by the issues discussed. In the course of the project, students became more familiar with the challenges, motivations and opportunities of activism,
and what it takes to initiate a grassroots social justice movement. As a result, the final exhibition not only put the work of students on display but also amplified the work of the associated activists.
Initially, interviewing as research practice allowed students to gather comprehensive information related to Hivos’s three areas of impact:
1. gender equality, diversity and inclusion
2. civic rights in a digital age
3. climate justice
In addition, its dialogical format put local communities into focus as the voices of inquiry and storytelling. Students have established personal connections with the guest activists and have developed a social and political understanding of a wider set of lived realities.
The exhibition and events related to Testimonies of Change are generously supported by Hivos and hosted by first year students of the master’s programme Non Linear Narrative.
Niels Schrader Head of Programme Master Non Linear Narrative
Project kick-off with Mickey Andeweg, Charlotte van Dalfsen, Merit Hindriks and Mark Schleedoorn from Hivos.
Mickey Andeweg reflecting on their experience as a Global Advocacy Officer.
Student participants Guillaume Lelong, Kai Jiao and Alessandro Caccuri.
Brief online meet-up with the activists.
explaining Hivos’s third area of impact: climate justice.
Merit Hindriks
INTERVIEW WITH STUDENT PARTICIPANTS BY SARAH VAN BINSBERGEN
As a designer, how do you amplify the voices of social justice advocates fighting for change in their communities? How can you collaborate with professionals from a different field and with different expertise, and communicate their work and experiences to an audience in an innovative way? These are the central questions that were posed to master Non Linear Narrative (NLN) students in the project Testimonies of Change, a collaboration with Dutch non-profit organisation Hivos. From September 2022 to April 2023, the students were paired with six, independent human rights activists related to Hivos’s professional network, two of whom are based in Namibia, and the remaining four in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Niger, and Tunisia (see biographies on page 22). Using digital communication, the students compiled new audio-based testimonies focussing on the activists’ advocacy and professional and biographical backgrounds. The goal was to present these testimonies in an exhibition, using different media to reflect on the local effects of global injustices, and to connect to the lived experiences of activists campaigning for climate justice, LGBTQ rights and women’s rights.
Central to the collaboration has been the attempt to establish a space for intergenerational, intercultural and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange through which all actors involved (students, activists and Hivos) can contribute to a more equitable and inclusive future. ‘The collaborative projects should be considered a place of dialogue where bridges are built by applying intercultural competence and learning how to empathise with others,’ Niels Schrader, head of the master NLN, explains. ‘This is particularly challenging in times of social conflicts and political polarisation.’
As the project unfolded, more and more the students felt a desire to meet the activists in person, rather than only collaborate with them remotely through digital means. In dialogue with the NLN tutors and Hivos, the decision was made to change the course of the programme and redistribute part of the budget to bringing the activists to The Hague. Alongside the exhibition, it was then possible for NLN to host a series of panel discussions and workshops from 12 to 15 April 2023 at The Grey Space in the Middle. Due to visa issues, only one activist was able to make it. Rahinatou Moussa Souna from Niger came and joined a discussion on 14 April with Assistant Professor in Literary Studies and Gender Studies Looi van Kessel from Leiden University and Hivos programme development manager Karen Hammink. Titled ‘Future Visions on Women’s Rights and Intersectionality’, the panel concentrated on future imaginaries of the Global South and the intersectional potential of visual arts as a cross-cultural language.
In February 2024 the students sat down with journalist Sarah van Binsbergen to reflect on their learnings from this cross-cultural collaboration, how they experienced embedded research and their thoughts about student agency.
Sarah van Binsbergen Through this project, you were invited to collaborate with professionals from very different cultural backgrounds. What would you say is the value of such a crosscultural learning experience?
Kai Jiao For me it was so valuable to connect with Kiss Brian Abraham, the activist I collaborated with. Through him, I learned a lot about his continent Africa and his country Zambia. I also learned a lot about the connections between deforestation and women’s rights in Zambia, where the Mukula tree is regularly exported to nations like China for furniture and medicinal treatment. There was of course a vast geographical distance and there are a lot of differences in our backgrounds, but through talking to him I also learned that we actually have lot in common. For instance, we both have a very strong relationship with our mothers, and this became an important topic in the project. I really feel like I have made a new friend.
Guillaume Lelong I definitely learned a lot when Rahinatou was here. Meeting her changed my perspective. She talked a lot about Niger, and we had good conversations about what we are doing here in this programme. She herself studied journalism, so she was also interested in this journalistic aspect of our work. She told us that in Niger there are no art museums and art is really only reserved for wealthy people. It is really hard for me to try to imagine what that’s like, because we live in such a visually overloaded culture.
Nigel van der Pol
One valuable lesson for me was that activism means something very different for the people we worked with. I’m from the Netherlands. We are a wealthy country, and obviously there are problems here, but still people are quite well off. So, for most people activism is a luxury here, in the sense that in a lot of cases you can choose to be an activist, or not. For the people with whom we collaborated it is not really a choice, it’s about survival. Because there is no way of accepting the alternative.
Marta Cucurullo Talking to Rahinatou, I learned a lot about perspective. As designers we make choices about what we design. Some are conscious choices, some are simply based on the
conventions of the visual culture we live in, our own frame of reference and our background. Talking to Rahinatou made that very clear. She gave a lot of feedback, for instance, asking, if this was exhibited in Niger, what would work, what wouldn’t work? She also reflected on the projects from a disability perspective. So, she would say things like: ‘For this to appeal to people in Niger, you would have to add more colour.’ Or: ‘You could do this or this to make your work more accessible to people who cannot hear or see very well.’ It was really eye-opening and pointed out our own blind spots.
How has this project shaped your ideas about collaborating with people from outside the design field?
Alessandro Caccuri
It’s not the first time that I have been in this type of collaboration, but it was the first time that I felt that my positionality really mattered and that I could make a difference.
Michela Meliddo
Going through this process gave me more confidence in my ability to work with people from a different background, both culturally and professionally. When I have done collaborations in the past, it was usually with people who shared my Italian background, or who were from the West. Often, they were also designers. In this collaboration, the levels of difference were much greater: geographically, culturally, professionally. So that did bring up a lot more questions, also ethical questions, that we had to respond to. I’m not going to say that it will be easy, but if in the future I would have to collaborate with an engineer or a researcher, or someone from a very different cultural background, I will have more confidence in navigating that.
Marta Cuccurullo
This collaboration made me realise that I have the chance, but also the responsibility, to make a choice. I’m then referring to the decision to invite the activists to come to the
Netherlands. And I’m also referring to the responsibility that comes from representing someone else’s story. Not to necessarily make this about my project, but just as an example: in the work I made based on Friedel’s testimony, I had to make a myriad of bigger and smaller choices. Ranging from how I presented the audio, to the colour of the curtains I chose for the tent. I had to make conscious, motivated choices in how I could best represent the story of someone else. That was empowering and also a little scary.
One of the scary things, I can imagine, is also that you worked with real people, real organisations, real cases. I’m curious, how did you experience this kind of ‘embedded research’?
Nigel van der Pol It’s a high-risk, high-reward situation, because somebody else, the activist in this case, is relying on you. So that was quite complicated to navigate sometimes. Failing in an art school setting is pretty okay and pretty safe. But if failing means you might disappoint or actively hurt the person you’re working with, or hurt their cause, that’s a big responsibility. That was something that also came up a lot in our conversations with each other, that it’s quite a lot of pressure. I think that it is a good way to learn.
Michela Meliddo It did feel like we had a lot of responsibility in terms of the activists we were collaborating with, but also with regards to Hivos and the KABK. On the other hand, I think it is precisely because we felt this responsibility, that we felt we should also take it. In our case this meant that we insisted that we really wanted to try to bring the activists to the Netherlands. Even though you have responsibilities towards these different parties, and you are given certain boundaries, you can still change course. This for me was the most valuable experience in the whole project: learning how to deal with this responsibility and finding solutions to the problems we encountered.
Why did you as students, together with the department and Hivos, decide you wanted to change the initial project trajectory of the project and use a part of the budget to try to bring the activists to The Hague?
Marta Cucurullo
Our assignment as students was to tell a story about these activists’ biographies and the work that they do, based on their testimony. But we ourselves were dealing with the challenges of getting to know these people and asking them personal questions across this distance. In general, when you are representing other people in your work, there can be a risk of appropriating their stories and experiences. This is definitely something that needs to be avoided.
Michela Meliddo It was also influenced by topics we were discussing in theory classes. We were talking about colonialism and what it means to speak for someone else and that made us wonder: are we doing the same thing here? It felt strange to make this exhibition based on the activists’ testimony, but without having them there to see the end result.
In the end, Rahinatou, the activist that Guillaume collaborated with, was able to make it. It was really inspiring to have her there; she was very much invested in our exhibition, and we spoke with her about every project. Unfortunately, due to visa issues, none of the others could make it.
How did the department and Hivos respond to these doubts and frustrations that came up for you?
Nigel van der Pol The tutors were very supportive, and they encouraged us to bring this up with Hivos. So, we had a meeting directly with them. Hivos was very ready to listen to us. We had three meetings before they gave us the go ahead, mostly because at first, of course we needed to explain why we brought
this up. Then we had to prove that bringing the activists here would be possible within the given budget, and then we had to make a plan for the panel discussions. After this, they gave us the green light.
What were the most important things you learned in this process?
Michela Meliddo To not be afraid to follow your gut sometimes. In the end we as students wasted a lot of time because we were not sure if this was the direction we wanted to go with the project. If we had listened to our gut feeling earlier on, perhaps we would have had time to get all of the visas.
What do you think is the added value of connecting activism and design, like you did in this project?
Michela Meliddo I think there is a lot of value in allowing someone from a different field to come in and challenge your preconceptions. It can create interesting outcomes because it adds different perspectives, experiences and knowledge to a project, knowledge that you yourself may not have.
Nigel van der Pol If you really listen and collaborate in a mutual way, I think the combination of activism and design can be very strong. Not in all cases of course, some designers inflate their own ego and self-importance by suggesting that design can solve everything, without really paying attention to the specific context. So, we have to be a bit careful with this idea. But if you’re really opening your project up to the perspective and knowledge of activists, then I think the combination of design and activism can be a powerful tool for change.
Alessandro Caccuri I personally don’t think there is a separation between designer and activist. Design is always political. Whatever
choice you make, is political, because it will impact the daily life of people who will use your product.
How do you look back on the exhibition and the pieces you made?
Marta Cuccurullo I am pretty proud of what we did. Even though it was an incredible challenge to collaborate with the activists remotely. And even though we could not bring all the activists here like we wanted to. It was still a great experience and a really nice exhibition.
Michela Meliddo I was really happy with the result, but the fact that Saber Ammar wasn’t there was disappointing. It was in a way the perfect metaphor for our whole process, in the sense that we tried so hard to have an ethical approach to this collaboration, and in the end, we failed because of slow, governmental bureaucracy. The system itself doesn’t always allow you to pursue what you want to do. That is not encouraging, but it is also very good to be aware of this, because we do not live in a perfect world.
Nigel van der Pol It helps that we know we did everything in our power to at least try to make it happen. This gave us more comfort and ease in doing this project, and also for the future: to know that we van work according to our own values.
This project took place in the context of the master Non Linear Narrative. What is a nonlinear narrative to you?
Alessandro Caccuri The programme promotes a researchbased way of working. And instead of presenting our research in a linear text that is mostly descriptive, we use other means and media to draw the viewer into the project. So that they get to experience and feel a certain aspect of this reality, rather than just taking in information about a topic. For instance, in the case
of this collaboration with Hivos and the social justice advocates, the audience are invited to experience different activist projects in parts of Africa.
Michela Meliddo In addition, it’s also about trying to look at different voices and narratives surrounding a topic and connecting the dots. Not in a linear way that constructs a hierarchy in those voices but finding other ways to connect them.
Marta Cuccurullo I think that it is also about possibilities. Always being aware of the fact that there are many possible ways to tell a story, and that the version you give is one of those possible narrations. Every way that you structure information is just one window on a specific situation. Nothing is linear, and nothing exists in isolation. Working in a non-linear way acknowledges that and looks at the intersections and interconnections between different experiences and versions of reality.
Assistant Professor in Literary Studies and Gender Studies, Looi van Kessel, responds to questions.
Sheena Calvert and Ramon Amaro moderate the discussion.
Future Visions on Women’s Rights and Intersectionality was a panel talk at The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague.
Programme development manager, Karen Hammink, shares her experience with the We Lead programme.
Women’s rights activist Rahinatou Moussa Souna together with her interpreter Abdoul Aziz Moussa Yacouba.
Panel members discuss the future imaginaries of the Global South.
Questions from the audience.
ACTIVISTS ’ BIOGRAPHIES
Kiss Brian Abraham
Zambia, social and climate activist
Kiss Brian Abraham (he / him) is a social activist, cartoonist, media practitioner and a published researcher into Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) used by scholars in Zambia and abroad. He uses visual language to increase awareness (especially among children) of the adverse effects of climate change. Abraham has conceptualised and implemented donor-funded projects for the empowerment of young women in Zambian communities, as well as strategic communication programmes for the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Zambia Statistics Agency. He has been part of the development of the Africa and Southern Africa Social forums. For more than ten years, Abraham headed a national research project within the network Gender Research in Africa and the Middle East into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE).
Saber Ammar
Tunisia, climate activist
Saber Ammar (he / him) is an environmental engineer who is strongly committed to human rights, gender equality and climate justice. He is a member of the stop pollution movement – engaged activists who fight against the disaster caused by the Tunisian Chemical Group – that aims
to bring the dynamic of the environment to other movements in the region by building a coalition that advocates for climate and environmental justice. He is also a member of the antifa group, which advocates for black and immigrants’ rights, and is involved in civil society, working with environmental NGOs locally.
Rahinatou Moussa Souna
Niger, women’s rights activist
Rahinatou Moussa Souna (she / her) is a leading advocate for children and women, committed to defending the rights of marginalised people, particularly those with disabilities. With a master’s degree in communication for development, for more than fifteen years she has worked in the humanitarian field: first as a presenter for a local radio station, then as a project manager. Due to a severe episode of polio at age five months, Moussa Souna is locomotor impaired. Her career is guided by the slogan ‘Nothing for us without us and with us all’ under which she fights for disabled people’s and their families’ rights, disabled children in particular, encouraging their autonomy on all levels. Married with two children, Moussa Souna is the Community of Action Facilitator for We Lead in Niger, helping women with disabilities and other marginalised groups and their families enjoy better health, especially around sexual and reproductive health.
Teddy Munyimani
Zimbabwe, LGBTQ activist
Teddy Munyimani (he / she / they) is a public health practitioner and human rights activist, actively involved in grassroots organising and activism for LGBTQ communities since 2013. Their work has involved rapid response to and documentation of human rights violations. Despite Munyimani’s extensive experience in LGBTQ activism, they still have an appetite to learn more from others and new forms of activism. Munyimani is the Community of Action Facilitator for Free to be Me in Zimbabwe. ‘I bring the energy, the positive vibes and abundant thinking: we are not victims
anymore! We have resolved to fight back and champion the enjoyment of rights and freedoms by LGBTQ persons as equal citizens of our respective countries.’
Friedel Dausab
Namibia,
LGBTQ activist
Friedel Dausab (he / him) started his advocacy journey as a twenty-fiveyear-old living with HIV. ‘Having acquired HIV from a trusted romantic partner in 2000, I have a running joke that I caught the Y2K bug.’ Yet this event caused a tremendous shift in his professional career and moved him from the aviation industry to civil society organising and advocacy. His work with communities of PLHIV (people living with HIV) led to advocacy for funding community-based initiatives, to ensure that LGBTQ persons living with HIV were not left behind. His career moved on to research, data collection and using strategy information for resource mobilisation and policy advocacy, which was largely successful in the recognition of MSM and later transgender women in the national strategic framework to respond to the HIV epidemic control measures in Namibia. Dausab is a technical assistance consultant for various LGBTQ and sexual and gender diverse initiatives, and serves on governance structures such as his current board membership at GNP+, the Steering Committee at Africa Free of New HIV Infections (AFNHI), and the Global Fund CCM representatives for PLHIV in Namibia.
Linda Reanate Baumann Namibia, women’s rights activist
Linda Reanate Baumann (she / her) is a feminist, gender, human rights and communication activist, working within the LGBTQ, women and gender sector. She is the Strategic Coordinator of the Namibia Diverse Women Association (NDWA), a young feminist movement focussing on advancing the rights and socio-economic development of lesbian,
bisexual and trans diverse persons in Namibia. Linda has focussed on the sexuality, gender and SOGIESC movement at the national, regional and international level. Over the years she has been part of the foundation and institutionalisation of organisations such as Out-Right Namibia, of which she was the Founding Director from 2010 to 2016. She was also part of the establishments of the Coalition of African Lesbians, Pan Africa ILGA and other emerging organisations that are currently still in operation.
THE EUROPEAN SANDCASTLE
Michela Meliddo and Nigel van der Pol
Two-channel video installation, 13:55 min
The European Sandcastle is an audio-visual diptych by Michela Meliddo and Nigel van der Pol in collaboration with Tunisian activist and engineer Saber Ammar. It focusses on the devastating effects of the climate catastrophe in Tunisia and aims to convey the challenges the Tunisian population is facing on daily a basis, manifesting, for instance, in harvest failures, soil erosion, droughts and rising temperatures. Meliddo and Van der Pol’s project seeks to shine light on the inequality gap between the Global North and the Global South and to investigate the impact of historic and ongoing colonialist practices on the energy sector. The conversation with Ammar makes painfully clear that the infrastructural expansion of ‘clean’ and ‘renewable’ energies often replicates colonial power structures, perpetuates the displacement of local communities and deprives residents of the Global South of agency.
The European Sandcastle by Michela Meliddo and Nigel van der Pol in collaboration with Saber Ammar.
WHAT IF…?
Alessandro Caccuri
Video installation and printed posters, 7:23 min
What If…? is an interactive video installation, developed by Alessandro Caccuri in collaboration with Zimbabwean LGBTQ activist Teddy Munyimani. The project draws attention to the contrast between the appearance of activism through media framing and its actual lived reality, particularly in relation to LGBTQ-rights in Zimbabwe. Central to the display is Munyimani’s statement ‘We are not victims anymore’ –a response to the portrayal of people from the Global South as victims, rather than people with agency who are actively seeking to improve their lived realities. In his video that juxtaposes Munyimani’s statement and personal history with Western media coverage, it becomes clear that Caccuri is increasingly starting to ask: What if we no longer treat them as victims? And what if we finally stop dismissing the growing capacity of the non-Western world and start changing the postcolonial narrative of victimhood? What if...?
What If…? by Alessandro Caccuri in collaboration with Teddy Munyimani.
ACCESS WITH CARE
Marta Cuccurullo
Audio installation and fabric tent, 15:15 min
For the installation Access With Care, Marta Cuccurullo collaborated with Friedel Dausab, an activist from Namibia fighting for HIV awareness and LGBTQ rights. Central to Cuccurullo’s conversation with Dausab is the understanding of intergenerational trauma and learning that healing is a way to reclaim agency. Cuccurullo’s installation takes the shape of a calming listening tent that allows her audience to follow Dausab’s spiritual journey of suffering and healing on headphones. During his reflections Dausab highlights the importance of not taking the path of least resistance for the recovery process and gaining strength from unpredictable setbacks. The pursuit of serenity and happiness, the importance of relationships, the confrontation with the other and active mediation, are presented as central aspects of both personal and communal healing.
Access With Care by Marta Cuccurullo in collaboration with Friedel Dausab.
CES MOTS QUI BLESSENT LE CŒUR
( THESE WORDS THAT HURT THE HEART )
Guillaume Lelong
Video installation, 6:42 min
How can a sensitive translation guide one in exploring the unknown spaces between languages, where words take on new forms and where cultural context is unveiled? This is the guiding question in the two-channel video Guillaume Lelong has made in collaboration with women’s rights activist Rahinatou Moussa Souna from Niger, who advocates in particular for women with disabilities. Her approach encourages reflection on how to conduct intercultural and intergenerational dialogue and how sharing experiences can become a source of inspiration and empowerment. The video Ces mots qui blessent le cœur is based on audio of Moussa Souna speaking about her life and work and elaborating on the challenges she faces in her fight for social justice. The video uses abstract imagery based on the mangrove, a type of tree or shrub with a complex root system, to visually represent how language can branch out and create connections within a community.
Ces mots qui blessent le cœur by Guillaume Lelong in collaboration with Rahinatou Moussa Souna.
WE SALUTE YOU, COMRADE
Mirna Jancic Doyle
Audio installation, 3:59 min
We Salute You, Comrade is a free-verse audio poem based on interview excerpts from Mirna Jancic Doyle’s conversation with activist Linda Reanate Baumann. The artwork captures Baumann’s strength and autonomy as an advocate for LGBTQ and women’s rights in Namibia. Central to Doyle’s poem is the term ‘comrade’, a common form of address among members of Namibia’s anti-colonialist liberation movement founded in 1960 and among young anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Despite its historical significance, the term is still frequently used, including within the LGBTQ community. Baumann describes how a fellow comrade would be saluted during their burial ceremony as an example of LGBTQ activism that celebrates the importance of identity and dignity in death as much as in life. Colonised in the nineteenth century by Germany and in the twentieth by apartheid South Africa, Namibia won independence in 1990. To reflect on the lyricism of the poem, Doyle chose to handwrite the poem in cursive, which she rendered in code.
We Salute You, Comrade by Mirna Jancic Doyle in collaboration with Linda Baumann.
ERINNERUNG ( MEMORY )
Kai Jiao
Audio installation and digital flipbook, 14:56 min
Erinnerung is an audio-visual installation by Kai Jiao developed as a gift to activist-illustrator Kiss Brian Abraham in celebration of their friendship. In the work, Jiao tells the activist’s story and responds to climate and feminist urgencies in Zambia. In the accompanying digital flipbook, images from Jiao’s archival research are combined with Abraham’s personal drawings, photographs and recollections. In their conversations, the duo explore links between deforestation and women’s rights and discover mutual interdependencies between the patriarchal societies of Zambia and China (Jiao’s home country). The shape of the installation is meant to resemble the Mukula tree, which is regularly smuggled to China for furniture processing and medicinal treatment.
Erinnerung by Kai Jiao in collaboration with Kiss Brian Abraham.
Opening of the exhibition on Wednesday, 12 April 2023.
Audience interacting with Kai Jiao’s work.
NLN student Marta Cuccurullo explains her project to women’s rights activist Rahinatou Moussa Souna.
Rahinatou Moussa Souna in conversation with NLN student Alessandro Caccuri.
Exhibition view during opening at The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague.
A visitor of the show reads the summary of Mirna Jancic Doyle’s interview.
Rahinatou Moussa Souna speaking to members of Hivos.
Audience playing with Alessandro Caccuri’s interactive screen.
Exhibition cabinets with research material.
Exhibition cabinets displaying research outcomes and work in progress.
CONTRIBUTORS
Mickey Andeweg (NL, they / them) is Global Advocacy Officer at Hivos, devoted foster parent, aspiring writer and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Kiss Brian Abraham (ZM, he / him) is an advocate for climate justice from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 22 for a more detailed biography.
Ramon Amaro (US, he / him) is an engineer, researcher, writer, tutor in Critical Theory and Methods at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Saber Ammar (TN, he / him) is an environmental engineer from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 22 for a more detailed biography.
Linda Baumann (NA, she / her) is a feminist and human rights advocate
from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 24 for a more detailed biography.
Alessandro Caccuri (IT, he / him) is a graphic designer and performative visual artist interested in the exploration and exploitation of rural areas in the south of Italy, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Sheena Calvert (UK, she / her) is a designer, philosopher and educator, and guest critic of the Testimonies of Change project.
Marta Cuccurullo (IT, she / her) is a visual researcher who explores the connections between language, traditional knowledge and communal behaviour, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Charlotte van Dalfsen (NL, she / her) is Communication Officer at Hivos, home cook and food lover, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Friedel Dausab (NA, he / him) is a community ambassador from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 24 for a more detailed biography.
Linda van Deursen (NL, she / her) is a graphic designer and former partner at Mevis & Van Deursen, tutor in Image Language at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Edwin Jakobs (NL, he / him) is a creative coder and co-founder of RNDR, tutor in Coding at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and technical advisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Mirna Jancic Doyle (BA, she / her) is a visual artist and educationist, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Kai Jiao (CN, he / him), is a designer who formerly worked in advertising, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Katrin Korfmann (DE, she / her) is an artist, photographer, researcher, tutor of Post Photography at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Guillaume Lelong (FR, he / him) is a graphic designer, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Michela Meliddo (IT, she / her) is a designer, visual storyteller, and student
participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Rahinatou Moussa Souna (NA, she / her) is an advocate for child welfare and women’s rights from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 23 for a more detailed biography.
Teddy Munyimani (ZW, they / them) is a public health practitioner from the professional network of Hivos and activist of the Testimonies of Change project. See page 23 for a more detailed biography.
Nigel van der Pol a.k.a. NVDP (NL, they / them) is a speculative designer who investigates the fictional realities around topics of ecology, gender and digital existence, and student participant of the Testimonies of Change project.
Mark Schleedoorn (NL, he / him) is Head of Communication & Fundraising at Hivos, frequent concert-goer, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Niels Schrader (VE / DE, he / him) is an information designer, founder of Mind Design, head of programme at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Judy Wetters (NL, she / her) is a spatial designer, tutor of the Material Lab at the MA Non Linear Narrative, and supervisor of the Testimonies of Change project.
Group photo with student participants, activists, and supervisors.
COLOPHON
Testimonies of Change was an educational project between the Master Non Linear Narrative at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and the non-profit development organisation Hivos, The Hague, lasting from September 2022 to April 2023.
Initiative
Niels Schrader (Head of Programme, MA Non Linear Narrative), Charlotte van Dalfsen (Communications Specialist, Hivos), and Mark Schleedoorn (Head of Communications & Fundraising, Hivos)
Student participants
Alessandro Caccuri, Marta Cuccurullo, Mirna Jancic Doyle, Kai Jiao, Guillaume Lelong, Michela Meliddo and Nigel van der Pol
Activists
Kiss Brian Abraham, Saber Ammar, Linda Baumann, Friedel Dausab, Rahinatou Moussa Souna and Teddy Munyimani
Project supervision
Ramon Amaro, Linda van Deursen, Edwin Jakobs, Katrin Korfmann, Niels Schrader and Judy Wetters from Royal Academy of Art (KABK), in close collaboration with Mickey Andeweg, Charlotte van Dalfsen, Mark Schleedoorn from Hivos
Exhibition
Exhibition design and production
Judy Wetters with student participants
Technical assistance
Alessandro Caccuri
Communication and press
Marta Cuccurullo and Mirna Jancic Doyle
Communication design
Guillaume Lelong and Nigel van der Pol
Catering
Kai Jiao and Michela Meliddo
Publication
Editor
Niels Schrader
Student interview
Sarah van Binsbergen
Copy editing
Janine Armin
Photography
Roel Backaert and Karolina Uskakovych
Design
Jungeun Lee
Cover design
Guillaume Lelong and Nigel van der Pol
Printing
robstolk®, Amsterdam
Binding
Binderij Voetelink, Haarlem
Paper
MultiDesign 1.4 white, 100 gr
ISBN 978-90-72600-63-9
Print run
250
Special thanks to Ignacia Levy Barros, Justin Bennett, Sarah de Bruijn, Sheena Calvert, Oliver Doe, Mijke van der Drift, Aparajita Dutta, Ingrid Grünwald, Karen Hammink, Steven Hawkes, Merit Hindriks, Maimuna Kabatesi, Anna Kaperska, Looi van Kessel, Quirine Lengkeek, Marit van der Meulen, Jo-Lene Ong and Boyd Rotgans
Disclaimer
All rights reserved. Kindly contact the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague regarding any form of use or reproduction of photographs and any material in this publication. Although every effort has been made to find the copyright holders of all the illustrations used, this proved impossible in some cases. Interested parties are requested to contact the publisher.
Hivos is an international organisation that works for a world where individual differences are respected and people can realise their full potential. A world where together, people fight the power imbalances that perpetuate inequality, rights violations, social injustice, and environmental degradation. But hard-won gains are being rolled back everywhere. Courageous environmental defenders, LGBTQ activists and champions of the rights of women and girls are under attack. They face daily violence and harassment, and their organisations risk being closed down. Hivos builds and strengthens social justice movements, supports change-makers who confront systemic oppression, and throws a lifeline to activists in danger.
Testimonies of Change was generously funded by Hivos, The Hague.
© 2024
Royal Academy of Art (KABK) Master Non Linear Narrative Prinsessegracht 4 2514 AN Den Haag The Netherlands
ISBN 978-90-72600-63-9