Zara Winfield-Khan is a high-school student in Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada. She embraces a love of multiple art forms, taking classes in photography and painting through the Ottawa School of Art and dancing through The School of Dance. She is the youngest juror for the Images of Justice cartoon series and is hopeful that her generation will solve significant justice issues worldwide. Zara is amazed by the way Images of Justice have been portrayed by the cartoonists.

Dr. Ramon Blanco Barrera, Ph.D. from the University of Seville, the Faculty of Fine Arts is a visual artist with the name ‘233’. Ramon sends social and political messages in order to make people reflect about their communities, both local and universal, constantly bringing up human rights concepts and values. He uses the number ‘233’ in reference to the ‘identity game’ of our overpopulated world system. His artworks have been exhibited all over the world; one of his recent projects, ‘THE UNIVERSAL GAME. One flag to connect us all’, an outreach art project from the HRREC at the uOttawa, marks the International Human Rights Day (December 10) through a message of union, diversity and rich global exchange and inclusivity. His other projects include: ‘Integração’ in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 2014) and ‘Is this dangerous? The carry on version’ in Seville (Spain, 2015). Ramon has also been awarded with several grants, scholarships and artist residencies; traveling around the UK, Argentina, Western Sahara, Palestine, Brazil, Canada and the USA among others. He is the Winner of the Second Prize in the Crossing Borders International Competition by Emergent Art Space in San Francisco (USA) in 2012. Ramon is one of the Founders and Cultural Managers of ‘magenta BICYCLE’, a sustainable art and education project based in Cañada Rosal (Spain) and he has worked as production and artist assistant for the Slovenian Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition: La Biennale di Venezia (Italy) in 2013. In 2012, Ramon was Professor Assistant at the Winchester School of Art of the University of Southampton (UK) and nowadays he teaches Digital Image and Engraving at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Seville (Spain).

Salman Taheri is a cartoonist and animation director, living in Iran. He was born in 1979. When he was studying civil engineering at university, he started drawing cartoons for press. His cartoons have been widely published in multiple magazines and newspapers in Iran since 1999. In 2006, he began to work in different animations as a character designer and a concept artist; and now he is an animation director. Nowadays Salman is working for one of the most famous Iranian web animation series –DirinDirin– as the series’ art director.

A poet, photographer, and creator of contemplative media, Richard makes connections, through art, in the work he does as a ‘child and youth care practitioner’. This can be witnessed in his role as a director for the HairStory: Rooted  initiative –Black Youth Unite for A Right To Speak (A.R.T.S.) that brought young people together for six days to create presentations– with facilitators, artists, elders, and one another to express their lived experiences using various art forms. With a youth-first mentality in his decisions, he finds fulfilment in moments when youth are influencing others through their bravery to believe in their value, their purpose, and their ability to impact the world and make change rooted in love.

Anahid Ghorbani holds an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, Illinois. She received her BA from Tehran University of Art in 2012. Engaged with creating site-specific installations that utilize photography and video, her goal is to engage, inform and invite dialogue around human rights. Her work has been included in a number of international exhibitions. She is the recipient of the Albert P. Weisman Award and the Diane Dammeyer Fellowship in Photographic Arts and Social Issues. She has recently won the Video Art First Award in the Khorshid Independent Film Festival in Tehran, Iran for her artwork the Color is Black, addressing the oppression of women and denial of gender identity.

Through the years I have had exciting opportunities to work through many different avenues to empower young people in different spaces.  Prior to my studies in the Child and Youth Care program at Ryerson University, I obtained a diploma in Assaulted Women’s and Children’s Counsellor/Advocacy at George Brown College (GBC). While pursuing my education I have worked for the Toronto Public Library (TPL) for the past 11 years, in various positions. In 2008, I had the opportunity to be the volunteer coordinator for Dr. Roz’s Healing Place, a shelter for women and children. One of the main focuses of the work I do with young people is to nurture proactive personal goals while encouraging the collective creation of a culture of social acceptance for ethnic and racial diversity within communities. I strongly believe in creating safe and healthy spaces that demonstrate empathy to the contemporary struggles of the diverse youth in our society.