THE INVISIBILITY PROJECT

Kathie Elías • 23 July 2023

The Invisibility Project, now an official nonprofit organization in the United States (https://theinvisibilityproject.org), was born as an inevitable byproduct of Leigh Witherell's journey as an artist and a bereaved mother.


Her daughter Amanda Jane passed tragically in a car accident in 2021. It was grief that ripped Leigh's heart open to fully pursue her creative career as she relied on art as an outlet and friend. In the artist's words, "Art is a companion that silently encourages me to show my inner self on the canvas."


Beyond serving as a cathartic tool, creating has led Leigh back to her roots as an educator, one that empathizes deeply with her audience.


"When I show my work, I get a wonderful opportunity to share the depth of heartache with openness and extreme vulnerability."


In communicating her reality, she has met fellow bereaved parents who have expressed gratitude for a tangible expression of their pain.


"I learned that many parents feel the same feelings. It's comforting not to feel alone in this odd place- Where you can feel rage, fury, sadness, devastation, elation, joy, and happiness all before noon on any given day. From those conversations, I knew I needed to work to bring visibility to our grief. We need a community that truly understands us, and that is when the Invisibility Project was born as a nonprofit organization."


The first order of business was to call other grieving parents to share their stories bravely. During the months of March and April, volunteer recorded interviews were conducted to research and document the commonalities and differences in the wake of losing a child. Twenty interviews with parents from multiple countries around the world left no questions about the main need of this suffering group- they feel neglected. Nobody wants to talk about their children's death. They need to talk about it and their children's names to be spoken. The artist had promised the research participants that she would share their stories with the world. Thus, Leigh took the recordings to Portugal and created the piece "We Are the Story " during a month-long art residency.


"Portugal provided me with a way to focus on the painting and the emotions behind it fully. We had interviewed the parents, and I had done the sketches, so now it was time to paint. This part was, by far, the toughest element of this project." 


Translating this massive amount of shared pain was not easy. The weight of her grief and the collective feeling of neglect at times crushed the artist. It was especially challenging for Leigh to create the figure of the screaming woman. 


"She represents the fury we all feel and also the helplessness. We feel helpless because we couldn't protect our children against death and are furious that death robbed us of our children's future. This part took the longest to complete as it was a stop-and-go process due to the overwhelming force of the image."



In honor of Amanda, the participating parents, and their children, the completed piece and eighteen other artworks will begin their tour under the exhibition Grief Flows, opening in Espacio Cómplices in Madrid on September 23 of this year. 


This exhibition holds no glamour but deep, inescapable pain that demands room to exist within the many other intrinsicalities and complexities that correspond to the human experience. The artist adds a warning- The raw subject matter of this show makes it difficult for people to view, and I understand that. However, for those of us who are living this nightmare and cannot wake up, it is something that we want the world to see. We don't want to be hidden by society; we don't want sympathy. We want acknowledgement that our children existed and were important and that our pain is valid and needs to be heard." 

Tianyun Zhao: Gentle Rebellions in a Digital Age

by Tianyun Zhao • 30 October 2025
London-based moving image artist and photographer Tianyun Zhao (Yano) creates works that drift between stillness and transformation, where memory becomes light and time turns tactile. Her practice navigates the intersections of image, perception, and identity, revealing how the digital age reshapes our sense of the self and the spaces we inhabit. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and the rhythms of urban life, Zhao constructs visual worlds that exist between reality and imagination — contemplative yet quietly rebellious. Through the fusion of lens-based imagery, AI-generated fragments, and fashion-inflected aesthetics, she invites viewers into atmospheres where emotion and technology merge in a delicate equilibrium. “I see my work as a dialogue between the visible and the invisible — a meditation on how we remember, and how we are remembered,” Zhao reflects. Expanding the Language of Moving Image Zhao’s practice has been presented internationally across galleries, festivals, and digital platforms. Her recent exhibitions include Field of Clarity at Photofusion Gallery (London, 2025), Broken Silence at Summerhall – In Vitro Gallery (Edinburgh, 2025), The Green Grammar Exhibition at art’otel Hoxton Gallery (London, 2025), and Fragments of the Past, Futures Unfolding at Normanou 3 (Athens, 2025). She also participated in Video Edition ArtIn as part of The Wrong Biennale (London, 2025), a globally recognised platform for digital and post-internet art. Zhao’s work has appeared in publications such as Artist Talk Magazine (Issue 39, 2025) and Viridine Literary Issue 03 (UK, 2025), reflecting her expanding presence in both gallery and online contexts. 

Nyll Axis

by Nyll Axis • 27 October 2025
Nyll Axis is the pseudonym of an artist who prefers to remain incognito. His paintings emerge as nameless presences moving through shifting layers of perception. There are no stories, no time — only appearances and disappearances. What remains are abstract glyphs with the illusion of meaning: thresholds, lines, dissolving architectures. These are not narratives but signals, pointing beyond knowledge toward the vanishing wall of the self.

Hollow Mountain

by Ziyi Huang • 30 September 2025
Ziyi Huang is a Chinese oil painting artist. His recent works are mainly landscapes inspired by his travels. He received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from China Academy of Art, where he is now studying for a Doctoral degree. He participated in an artist residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France from 2018-2019, and studied at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, USA as an international exchange student in 2024. His paintings have been exhibited in China, Japan, France, UK, Canada, Italy and Latvia, and he has held solo exhibitions in Hangzhou and Xiamen, China. He is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA), International Council of Visual Arts (ICVA), 90' Creative Art Society, Zhejiang Artists Association and Zhejiang Association of Oil Painters. 

Daniel Agra

by Daniel Agra • 7 September 2025
Daniel Agra is Spanish artist of abstract and fine art photography. In the artistic field his work is defined as subjective, experimental and conceptual expressionist visual poetry, with a profound imaginative capacity and endowed with strong intuition. Defined by a resounding individual and experimental personal mark that allows him to mentally project a great deal of his compositions with a language and style full of symbolism. The defined perception and emotional depth of his work should be highlighted reflecting his interest in the subconscious, abandoned methods, dialogues and conventional and traditional photographic narratives which transcend their state to be symbolised in a deep analysis, to be recreated into a poetic frontier between the material and the spiritual, between man and the environments he inhabits, distinctive elements that emphasise the communicative character in his allegorical symbology and relative to the inner world, raising it to levels of evocative spirituality in transcendental and vindictive themes, on the existential importance of the individual in his creative freedom, a personal form of contemporary expression that does not bow to the established norms, an archetype through a vocabulary with meticulously selected images and iconographies. Over time, his works have achieved wide appreciation, recognition and international dissemination. The more than 50 awards and international honour mentions of photography that he has achieved during his career should be emphasised, he has shown his work and participated in exhibitions across various countries, as well as published in assorted media and international art guides. His work can be found in national and international museums, foundations and private art and photography collections. 

Mary Joy Manuel

by Tension & Release: A Spontaneous Series Born from Stillness • 10 August 2025
This ten-piece body of work, created on fine art paper (21 x 14.5 cm), explores the emotional and societal tensions that shape our collective experience. Using acrylics, graphite, and charcoal pencils, each painting captures dynamic movement through vibrant palettes—juxtaposing warm and cool tones to evoke contrast and conflict. Black graphite and charcoal lines cut through the compositions like fractures, symbolizing resistance, boundaries, and the desire to break free from imposed limitations. The negative space, softly blended with graphite, adds depth and quiet intensity, while ghost markings—my signature underpainting technique—linger beneath the surface, hinting at unseen histories and layered emotions. These subtle traces speak to the persistence of memory and identity, even when obscured.

Sahar Hasan: Artist and Curator

by Sahar Hasan • 25 July 2025
Sahar Hasan is a artist and curator whose work brings hidden emotions and overlooked stories into view. Her practice moves between painting, mixed media, and curation, always tracing the quiet spaces where memory, identity, and heritage meet.

Victoria Moses: Grand Era

by Victoria Moses • 24 July 2025
Victoria Moses: Grand Era  Victoria Moses, born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1990, is a student at the Art Academy Hamburg, where she engages with diverse artistic media, including painting, sculpture, and digital art. Her work is characterized by a profound exploration of perception and identity search, focusing on the relationships individuals establish within society. Through her use of both vivid, figurative oil paintings and monochromatic charcoal drawings, she examines how people integrate or distance themselves in various social contexts, adopting different roles that shape their self-expression and interactions. Her latest series, Grand Era, is deeply influenced by her experience working on an ocean liner - an enduring symbol of intercontinental connection as it was in the early 20th century. Within this series, Moses portrays individuals navigating multiple societal roles, shifting fluidly between personal and professional identities. A single person may simultaneously function as a professional, a family member, a friend, and a community participant, with each role reflecting distinct expectations and responsibilities dictated by their environment. Through these themes, Moses explores the complexities of human adaptability and the intricate balance required to meet the demands of social existence. Her art contributes to broader discussions on identity, social roles, and the evolving nature of interpersonal relationships.

Ashwani Verma, Busking Piccadilly Circus

by Grant Milne • 24 July 2025
Critics Review: The artist's exceptional talent is evident in their masterful control of watercolour, a medium notorious for its difficulty. The painting demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of light and atmosphere, using the medium's transparency to create a luminous, hazy glow over Piccadilly Circus. This is expertly contrasted with the sharp, dramatic shadows, showcasing a remarkable ability to create depth and a sense of time. The seemingly effortless washes of colour for the background and the energetic brushstrokes for the performers perfectly balance delicate subtlety with bold expression, a clear sign of a highly skilled watercolorist. Furthermore, the artist excels at capturing the emotion and energy of the scene, not just its physical form. The dynamic poses and loose, impressionistic style of the musicians suggest movement and rhythm, as if the music is about to pour from the frame. The artist has a rare gift for distilling the essence of an urban scene—its constant motion and the unexpected joy of a street performance—and conveying it with a powerful sense of atmosphere and narrative. This ability to imbue a painting with such a strong sensory experience is a true testament to their talent. Critics - Grant Milne - Founder of Artist Talk Magazine

LAURENTIU STROE

by EMOTION IN EVERY LAYER • 4 July 2025
Laurențiu STROE is a Romanian painter known for his raw, expressive style and textured surfaces. His artwork stands out through thick layers of paint, powerful brushstrokes and pallette knives, and a strong emotional presence. Using the impasto technique, STROE applies paint so heavily that it creates a sculptural texture, adding depth and movement to the canvas.

Painting from Within: Exploring Fluid Forms and Unseen Emotions

by Mahfam Barzegarpour • 5 June 2025
I am a Birmingham-based artist whose work explores spiritual and emotional landscapes through fluid forms and layered textures. Through my paintings, I seek to express feelings and inner states that words cannot easily convey. I developed my practice through studying Fine Art, where I began to explore the interplay of texture, movement, and the sense of presence in painting.