PositiveNegatives spotlights youth voices from conflict in new comic series

SOAS-based non-profit PositiveNegatives has launched I Couldn’t Stand By, a new comics series highlighting the role of youth in conflict, change and the building of peace. 

Created in partnership with Coventry University, “I Couldn’t Stand By” draws out narratives from a 6-year research project to share what coming of age looks like for those in conflict-affected areas. The Youth, Violence and Conflict Transformation project studied youth mobilisation, marginalisation and peacebuilding in five regions: Algeria, Colombia, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Iraq, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

Fifteen testimonies collected across these regions were transformed into five comics by illustrator Daniel Locke, allowing young people to share their experiences and hopes directly with readers. 

Their stories—I Couldn’t Stand By (Algeria), I Heard Birds Sing (Bosnia), Peace is More than the Silence of Guns (Colombia), Where do I Live? (Iraq), and What Can I Do, But Hope (Kurdistan)—offer an intimate insight into the emotional and political lives of youth in post-conflict societies.

The comic series contributes to wider efforts by the project to challenge dominant narratives of youth as either perpetrators or victims of violent conflict. Instead, it foregrounds the everyday – and often unseen – work that young people do in the service of peace.

This collection confronts the idea that young people lack agency in challenging contexts.

PositiveNegatives is a non-profit organisation based at SOAS University of London, specialising in transforming ethnographic research into animations, graphic novels and comics. Each of the stories in this new comic series will exhibit at the SOAS Gallery from January 2026. 

This follows the highly successful “Stories of Migration” exhibition at the SOAS Gallery this Spring, which celebrated 12 years of the organisation’s work in bringing humanitarian research to the public.

Speaking about the project, Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix, Founding Director of PositiveNegatives, said:

“We tried to convey the individual humanity of each of the 15 speakers represented in the comics, and provide an amount of historical context to help varied international audiences understand the complexities of each of the settings. I feel that this type of storytelling, drawn from research, can help us all develop empathy and understanding for people living in highly challenging situations.”

Dr Michaelina Jakala, Assistant Professor at the Coventry University Centre for Peace and Security, added: “I Couldn’t Stand By is a collection of 5 powerful graphic stories that tease out the complex and layered experiences of young people navigating life in conflict-affected contexts. This collection confronts the idea that young people lack agency in challenging contexts, drawing readers into the emotional and social realities of each character and powerfully humanising their experiences.”

All imagery: (c) PositiveNegatives 2025.