What does it mean to try and change the world?

At the end of 2022, our communications team placed a 6 meter tall canvas in the Erste Headquarters in Austria, and asked changemakers from all around the world to step in front of it. They were photographed, some expressing awe, others uncertainty, many joy.

While every changemaker got their photo taken, another would stand next to the canvas, waiting. Our team would ask them questions about their journey getting to this point. Some were born in refugee camps, and thanked the heavens for having been granted a visa to Europe for the first time in their lives.

Others were escaping war-torn countries, having traveled 28 hours to attend our Summit. All shared a dream: to fight for their communities, and in doing so, exceed their own sense of self.

These conversations were documented, and these photographs were printed, making up a huge body of work about the incredible lives of young agents of change building solutions to the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time, whose stories mostly go untold.

From there, the materials were exhibited first in Berlin, and later in Vienna, Belgrade, in Mannheim, and Ljubljana. By creating open spaces where participants, young and old, could discover these stories, they had a chance to reflect on their own relationship to purpose and impact.

4 years since its inception, more wars have broken out. Extremism is on the rise, climate catastrophes have multiplied, and our social fabric is under tension. Is it still possible to change the world? One can only try. And hopefully, these stories can serve as luminaries in an increasingly darkening world.

Photos by Nikolas Rode. Painting by Jeremy Miedler.