“Just like music, joy can be gleaned through colour. Throw that colour on a wall and you’ve instantly got joy multiplied. Give someone skills to create their own joy and your job is done.”
This February, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Foundation is taking an all-star cast of artists, educators, and facilitators to Tanzania to deliver our creative education programmes Get Equipped and Street to Street, using music and art to build skills, confidence, and hope.
Joining us on this journey is My Dog Sighs, an artist and educator who has spent his career creating connection through visual storytelling. Best known for his melancholic, often naïve portraiture painted on discarded food cans, his work explores themes of loss, rediscovery, and the value of what society too often overlooks. By transforming abandoned materials into moments of quiet poignancy, his art creates powerful, human connections in unexpected places.
Alongside his artistic practice, My Dog Sighs brings a background in teaching and a deeply community-focused approach to creativity. After more than a decade of giving his work away for free as part of the now-iconic Free Art Friday project, his practice has grown into an internationally recognised body of work, with a strong global following and multiple sold-out exhibitions. At its heart, his work is rooted in accessibility, proving that meaningful art doesn’t need permission, prestige, or perfect conditions to exist.
Open, thoughtful, and quietly powerful, his approach is grounded in participation rather than perfection. In Tanzania, he’ll be delivering Street to Street workshops, sharing skills, colour, and creative confidence, and helping young people unlock their own sense of joy through making and self-expression.
As we prepare for Tanzania, we spoke to My Dog Sighs about creativity, community, and why giving back should be at the heart of everything we do.
What inspired you to join Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Foundation for this experience?
“As creatives we are in privileged positions. When asked to take part in such a valuable project I instantly knew it was something I wanted to be involved in.”
What strengths or creative skills are you bringing to the team in Tanzania?
“The visual arts is my happy pace and combine that with a previous life as a teacher, I hope I can bring some skills, some inspiration and hopefully a bucket loads of enthusiasm.”
What do you hope to take away from this experience?
“I’d love to know that I made some sort of difference. Even if only for a few people.”
Our mission is all about building hope through music and unlocking the joy that creativity brings. How do you see yourself helping to bring that to life during our time in Tanzania?
“Just like music. Joy can be gleaned through colour. Throw that colour on a wall and you’ve instantly got joy multiplied. Give someone skills to create their own joy and your job is done.”
Why is giving back and being part of an organisation like LNADJ important to you?
“It should be inherent in everything we do. Giving back is community and community is everything.”
What do you love about LNADJ and the work we do?
“I love the way it gets the roots of a community. Direct positive action. On the ground.”
Can you share one record that changed or saved your life? What is it, and why does it mean so much to you?
“The Cure – Disintegration. It was my gateway into a world of music that wasn’t mainstream. It helped define me as a person, it helped me find my tribe and wrapped me in a blanket of familiarity when that was really needed.”
From all of us at LNADJ, big love and huge respect to My Dog Sighs for joining us on our mission to build hope through creativity and community. We’re excited to see his work, energy, and generosity come to life on the ground in Tanzania, and to watch the impact unfold through Street to Street.
If you’d like to learn more about Street to Street, head here.
Please head to My Dog Sighs’ JustGiving page here to support him and help fund this vital creative outreach project.
Thank you, and as always, Big Love
Team LNADJ x
