Begun with Others

Every artwork begins with marks made together

Begun with Others – a continuing series of paintings and installations, is an evolving body of abstract work that grows directly from Sara Downham-Lotto’s participatory visual arts practice. Each painting and installation begins not in the studio, but through collaborative creative processes with people and communities in diverse cultural and social contexts around the world.

Rather than viewing participation and studio practice as separate activities, this series explores the creative dialogue between them. Collaborative mark-making and visual expressions of cultural identity created during workshops become the starting point for a new artistic journey. Back in the studio, these fragments are transformed through an intuitive process of cutting, tearing, stitching, painting, scratching, rubbing, layering and reconstruction, allowing entirely new artworks to emerge.

Although grounded in collaborative processes, the resulting works are never simply illustrations of participation. They stand as resolved abstract artworks in their own right, inviting curiosity, contemplation and multiple interpretations, while gradually revealing the histories, relationships and cultural identities they embody. Each work becomes a visual palimpsest, carrying traces of many voices and ways of seeing.

The series reflects Sara’s belief that transformation is both an artistic process and a way of understanding ourselves, one another and the wider world. Every artwork is rooted in the visual language of abstraction while retaining subtle connections to the people, places and conversations from which it first emerged.

Scroll down to explore artworks that began with communities including genocide survivors, refugees and displaced people, schools, universities, young offenders, people in prison, faith communities and community organisations, alongside photographs documenting the collaborative processes from which they emerged.

The Process

1. Collaborative Creation
Participants work together to create large-scale drawings and paintings through collaborative mark-making, experimentation and visual exploration.

2. Shared Ownership
At the end of each workshop, participants select and keep their favourite sections of the collective artwork as a lasting reminder of the creative process and their own contribution.

3. Studio Transformation
Using the remaining material, Sara develops new paintings and installations through an intuitive process of deconstruction and reconstruction. These works become the Begun with Others series.