Curator's tour of 'I Couldn't Stand By'

Join the exhibition curator, Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix, for a guided tour of 'I couldn't Stand By: Youth, Violence and Peace - an Exhibition of Young Hope' at SOAS Gallery. 

This tour offers an in-depth introduction to the research, creative processes and illustrated narratives that shape the exhibition, with opportunities for discussion and questions throughout.

SOAS Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition developed in collaboration with PositiveNegatives, a SOAS-based organisation internationally recognised for its innovative use of comics, illustration and animation to communicate complex social, humanitarian and environmental issues.

By combining ethnographic research with creative storytelling, PositiveNegatives transforms personal testimonies into accessible visual narratives. These materials are designed to engage a wide public audience, particularly young people, with topics that are often difficult to grasp through academic research alone.

The exhibition showcases new visual stories produced as part of the Youth, Violence and Conflict Transformation project, a six-year research initiative funded by the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust. The project investigates the roles of young people in both the escalation of violence and the transformation of conflict across a range of global contexts. While young people are frequently portrayed as a destabilising force in fragile societies, their contributions to peacebuilding are less visible. The research seeks to address this imbalance by examining the positive and often overlooked impact that young people have on rebuilding communities, supporting civil society and contributing to sustainable peace.

Focusing on five conflict-affected settings, the project explores the lived realities of youth in Algeria, Colombia, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Iraq, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. These case studies offer a comparative understanding of how young people navigate environments shaped by political exclusion, economic marginalisation and social fragmentation. Many face limited opportunities for participation in public life and exclusion from decision-making processes that directly affect their futures. Others experience intersecting forms of marginalisation linked to gender, disability, religion or ethnicity.

The exhibition at SOAS Gallery presents illustrated narratives drawn from the Colombia and Algeria case studies. The works have been illustrated by PositiveNegatives Senior Artist Daniel Locke. These stories reveal how young people negotiate pressures to participate in violence while also creating spaces for dialogue, reconciliation and community rebuilding. Through the distinctive format of comics and graphic storytelling, the exhibition conveys the emotional complexity of these experiences with clarity and sensitivity.

During this curator-led tour, visitors will gain insight into the research contexts, creative development of the illustrated narratives, and the wider questions the project raises about youth participation in peacebuilding, political transformation and long-term stability.

The exhibition was kindly funded by Coventry University, ESRC IAA, and Rapid Response Fund.

About the curator

Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix is the Founder and Executive Director of PositiveNegatives. He has worked as a Communications Manager for the United Nations and a range of international non-governmental organisations across Asia and Africa for over twelve years. Alongside this, he has worked as a photojournalist across India for seven years.

Between 2004 and 2008, Dr Worku-Dix was based in LTTE-controlled Vanni in northern Sri Lanka with the United Nations, where he worked throughout the conflict. His academic background includes a BA in Political Geography of South Asia from SOAS University of London, an MA in the Anthropology of Conflict and Violence from the University of Sussex, and a Doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Sussex. He is currently a Senior Fellow at SOAS University of London.