Life stories

Hear directly from individuals about their highly personal journeys into meaning and self-understanding

Stories of change

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Two scuba divers swimming underwater with sunlight filtering through the surface.
FEAR AND PHOBIA

Exposure

Wracked with unknown fear, I’d never been able to sleep through the night. Then I went scuba diving

by Lindsay Lee Wallace

Water swirling around a concrete structure in low light, creating a reflective and slightly turbulent surface.
CIVIC LIFE

Girl in the water

I’d saved someone from drowning. Had I done the right thing?

by James McConnachie

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Silhouette of a person next to a glowing orange lamp in a dark room.
FRIENDSHIP

Discarded

The end of a friendship cracked me apart, triggering hidden memories – and helping me heal old wounds

by Antonia Malchik

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

Woman in a white dress standing in front of a geometric quilt in a garden setting with trees in the background.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Beauty is woven into everyday life for the quilters of the American West

A film by Carly Jakins and Jared Jakins

Photo of a man holding a microphone and equipment standing on a walkway with blurred people passing by in the foreground.
LONELINESS

Lonely in London, a filmmaker sets out to make a new friend

A film by Hugh Clegg

Illustration of a room with a person lounging on a bed, a pink dresser, a table with cups and a plant.
AUTISM

A mysterious black orb trails Mo, growing ever harder to ignore

A film by Gil Goletski

Painting of a man in colourful clothes sitting against a stone wall looking pensive with armour-clad figures in the shadows.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

The loving tongue

In Spanish, I wasn’t the clumsy son of the town amputee. Learning the language catalysed my reinvention

by Timothy Hampton

Photo of a man sitting in a circle on a speckled background, focusing on an object in his hands, with a cosmic effect.
TRAUMA AND PTSD

How small creatures helped James connect with the human-scale world

Directed by Spencer MacDonald

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Silhouette of a person next to a glowing orange lamp in a dark room.
FRIENDSHIP

Discarded

The end of a friendship cracked me apart, triggering hidden memories – and helping me heal old wounds

by Antonia Malchik

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

PERSONALITY

Mindie is a talented singer. She also doesn’t have legs. As a teen, it got complicated

A film by Megan Griffiths and Mindie Lind

Illustration of a woman standing in a giant conch shell, nestled among giant books, a large beaded necklace and various other objects, holding a small mirror, wearing a red top on a beige background.
MEMOIR

Love, shame and 325 bags of trash

In my mother’s hoarding house, I found something I wanted to keep

by Deborah Derrickson Kossmann

TRADITIONAL ARTS

An Aboriginal painter depicts scenes from her youth in this beautiful short

A film by Grace Kemarre Robinya and Jonathan Daw

Silhouette of a person next to a glowing orange lamp in a dark room.
FRIENDSHIP

Discarded

The end of a friendship cracked me apart, triggering hidden memories – and helping me heal old wounds

by Antonia Malchik

Surreal photo of a person wearing glasses and a hat with their face distorted, leaning towards a camera in a hallway.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

This sculptor finds deep weirdness – not divinity – in the human form

Directed by Ben Berman

Painting of a man in colourful clothes sitting against a stone wall looking pensive with armour-clad figures in the shadows.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

The loving tongue

In Spanish, I wasn’t the clumsy son of the town amputee. Learning the language catalysed my reinvention

by Timothy Hampton

A man lying with a serene expression surrounded by white lilies against a dark background.
AGEING

At 84, Jun lives to shock. His next act? A living funeral no one asked for

A film by Mari Young and Anika Kan Grevstad

Illustration of a hedgehog in a hat pulling a cart with flowers and fruit. Russian text says “Happy Birthday”
RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS

The birthday gift

In the Soviet Union, you’d never wish someone ‘S dnem rozhdeniya!’ without a proper present

by Margarita Gokun Silver

Illustration of a room with a person lounging on a bed, a pink dresser, a table with cups and a plant.
AUTISM

A mysterious black orb trails Mo, growing ever harder to ignore

A film by Gil Goletski

Painting of settlers in covered wagons crossing a grassy landscape with mountains in the background and people on horses nearby.
IDENTITY

Ancestor trouble

What happens when you discover a family legend is untrue?

by Patricia Olsen

Photo of a man holding a microphone and equipment standing on a walkway with blurred people passing by in the foreground.
LONELINESS

Lonely in London, a filmmaker sets out to make a new friend

A film by Hugh Clegg

Photo of a dark rocky asteroid with a starry sky background and small particles visible near its surface.
MEMOIR

Seeing myself in a rubble-pile asteroid

Exhausted and adrift, I felt just like Bennu: a heap of fragments of a world that could have existed

by Elizabeth Landau

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

Two people on a train reading Metro newspapers with headlines about royalty and sports transfers.
LOVE

Adventures of an agony uncle

What I’ve learned from 10 years of sifting through other people’s problems

by James McConnachie

An elderly woman in black standing in a garden of pink roses with snow-capped mountains in the background.
HABITS AND ROUTINES

Mzia the elevator operator leaves her post for the first time in two decades

Directed by Madeline Leary

A prescription pill bottle spilling tablets onto an open book with highlighted text.
ADDICTION

Professor’s little helper

Once I was prescribed Ritalin, I couldn’t do without it. How had I functioned before I got my pharmaceutical wings?

by Gordon Marino