Stories by Strangers
Nitya Mehrotra was recently featured in the Chicago Tribune.
Stories by Strangers is an online support community and safe space for victims of sexual and mental abuse. It allows people to share their stories anonymously and some of them are collaboratively turned into animations to be viewed by the public. The animations aim to disrupt the flow of desensitized media about mental health and abuse against women. They are posted on social media platforms to find the good side of social media and translate that into a safe space while maintaining anonymity.
The Beginning: The creator of the community received an email in 2020 with the subject line: "Would you be willing to tell my story?". She opened the email and read one of the most excruciating stories about a young girl who had been to police stations, family, and friends, yet no one believed that she was not safe at home, or safe from her father.
“You have to tell your story properly,” said Hannah Gatsby, a famous women’s activist and advocate for mental health, and these victims of abuse wanted just that. The animations went viral and once she opened up her email to more people, it grew into an online community, becoming more than was ever intended. Today the project has over 3 million views and 40000 members from 20 countries. The project has been able to put more than 156 people in direct touch with therapists and get legal help!
From a global perspective on mental health strategies, I've observed that focusing on individual healing can lead to fragmentation and isolation, making us deal with trauma in a vacuum. This project aims to foster enduring communal support by engaging young people in their own social media language. I collaborate with animators remotely and on a volunteer basis and storytellers work with us to shape how their stories are received. The animations use an experience-based approach to therapeutically express trauma, granting storytellers creative agency. I provide artistic tools to help them craft unique versions of their stories with quirky characters, vibrant colors, and surreal locations. This allows me and the artists to employ their work for those who need their story told, and gives storytellers the ability to express like never before.
