Can Art Drive Social Justice with Rosalie Schweiker
Episode 83
03 March, 2025

In this episode, we’re joined by artist and cultural organiser Rosalie Schweiker, whose practice boldly bridges art and activism. Originally from South Germany and now based in South London, Rosalie is a co-director and designer at Migrants in Culture—a collective-led design agency reshaping the cultural sector through justice-driven, community-led practices. Her work challenges the systems that exclude and marginalise, while offering radical alternatives rooted in care, collaboration, and creativity.

Our conversation explores Rosalie’s evolution as an artist working in a politically fractured landscape, and how she uses her skills not to “fix the art world” but to build new ways of working entirely. She talks us through her experience of migrating from the so-called EU “dream world” to navigating the UK’s hostile environment, and how these realities shaped her artistic and political commitments.

We dive into Rosalie’s deeply personal and collective approach to design, where authorship is secondary to impact, and where relational work takes centre stage. She shares how becoming a mother has influenced not only her creative schedule but also her values and priorities, and why collective organising, boundary-setting, and shared accountability are essential tools in building sustainable futures.

Throughout, Rosalie questions traditional ideas of what it means to be an artist—and what success looks like. For her, the artist is not a solitary genius, but a worker embedded in community. She urges us to design not just for abolition, but through it—to embed joy, care, and justice into everything we create.

Rosalie’s story is a powerful reminder that the systems we live in were designed this way—and that artists and organisers have the capacity to imagine and build something better. Whether you’re engaged in activism, creative work, or community organising, this episode offers a generous and urgent blueprint for aligning your practice with your values.

What We Learned from Rosalie Schweiker

1. You don’t have to fix the system—you can build something new
   Rosalie encourages us to stop trying to “fix” broken structures and instead imagine radical alternatives. Through her work with Migrants in Culture, she shows how art can help design more equitable systems from the ground up.
2. Art is not separate from activism
   Rosalie sees no line between creative practice and political commitment. Her projects are shaped by the values of care, collective accountability, and social justice—and she believes art should always be in service of a better world.
3. Artists are workers too
   One of Rosalie’s core messages is that artists aren’t heroes—they’re workers navigating the same challenges as everyone else. This reframing invites us to question individualism and embrace more collective, supportive modes of working.
4. Motherhood is a creative act
   Becoming a parent reshaped Rosalie’s relationship to time, energy, and values. She speaks movingly about how mothering is itself an act of care, negotiation, and creativity, and how it intersects with her art and activism.
5. Live your values, don’t just speak them
   Rosalie’s practice is a reminder that justice and abolition aren’t abstract goals—they’re principles that must be lived daily, through the way we work, organise, and relate to one another.

Listen to the full episode to discover how Rosalie Schweiker is transforming cultural work through collective care, deep accountability, and radical imagination.