S13E6 – Annica Lydenberg and Samantha Schutz

Annica Lydenberg and Samantha Schutz created You Are Not Alone, a public art project that inspires artists to create work in their communities, sparking hope, connection, and conversations about mental health. The goals of the project is to reduce stigma and shame around discussing mental health challenges by fostering connection through story-sharing as well as to inspire artists from around the world to join the project as they create work in their communities. The project was born out of Annica’s experience with creating murals and reader responses to Samantha’s memoir “I Don’t Want To Be Crazy.” They join the podcast for a conversation about the power of messaging on walls, how the project has been embraced by the artistic community across the world and how the message became even more important post-pandemic. Plus, fellow YANA muralist and friend of the show Rodney Ibarra returns to catch up with Ryan at the top of the show.