Lifting Stones for a Fairer World

Art as a lens for humanity

There is a certain honesty you can only find in the eyes of a child: a clarity that cuts through noise, ego, and discrimination. Artist and long-time advocate Michael Wooley calls this “the language that needs no words,” a language that has guided his life’s work and inspires every piece he creates. 

For Michael, children don’t just symbolize hope, they teach it. And when those children face physical or cognitive challenges, that hope becomes even more luminous, and more worthy of protection.

Michael’s creative practice is inseparable from his decades of work supporting people with disabilities. From community advocacy such as making possible the island’s YMCA pool to swimming for a good cause from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard to teaching hundreds of kids how to swim, he has spent his life tackling barriers and promoting inclusion in all spaces. As he describes it, his guiding principle is simple yet profound:

“I worked daily to help remove stones, not add more. A daily practice of mine to date.”

Art as Activism, Compassion as Practice

The stones of exclusion and invisibility are carried by too many children and adults with different abilities. Michael challenges us to see them, name them, and lift them. Because removing discrimination is not only a moral choice; it is a human right that ensures every person can participate fully in society

His advocacy pushes us to see what society often overlooks: the extraordinary strengths of people who think, move, or communicate differently. When we choose to lift stones rather than add them, we help create a world where every child can rise, flourish, and be celebrated for who they are.

Michael reminds us that looking into a child’s eyes is an invitation, a reminder, a promise. Their gaze asks us for nothing more, and nothing less, than our humanity. Children, especially, show us new ways of engaging with the world, ways that ask us to slow down, listen, and genuinely understand each other's needs.

Michael’s work and way of living is remarkable not only his artistic eye and love for the underwater but his insistence on action. His latest effort is with Media Voices for Children. He is donating 100% of the proceeds from his Ocean Towel artwork to support our Kenyan School House Program.