Words by Smiley Team
A 26-year-old mental health artist and activist Sravya Attaluri has set up a non-profit organisation, Draw for Mental Health, to advocate for mental wellbeing and provide visibility for artists who highlight mental health in their work.
Sravya studied fine art and went on to work in corporate as a senior graphic designer, but was always looking for a way to make a bigger impact with her art. "I began practising personal illustrations on weekends and used myself as a subject to create a visual journal of my own mental health journey," she says.
"My mental health, along with so many others, was particularly challenged during the pandemic and Instagram became a natural platform to post my work. As a result, I gained thousands of followers who resonated with honest mental health illustrations and my online community began to grow."
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Sravya built up a following of nearly 34,000 followers and soon after, decided to leave her corporate job. She launched Hello Colour – a creative design lab built by people of colour using brand strategy, storytelling, and design to drive social impact.
"As a South Asian artist struggling with mental health, I noticed there was a lack of alternative support and resources available to support my specialisation, which motivated me to create a platform for artists who had a focus on wellbeing to connect with one another," she says.
Sravya founded the nonprofit artists' collective, Draw for Mental Health, as a way to foster community among artists who have a focus on mental health and mental illness. "We believe that art has the power to motivate, educate and bring people together and aim to empower artists to help destigmatize mental health and mental illness by increasing visibility through artistic creation," says Sravya.
Draw for Mental Health focuses on providing growth and visibility opportunities through various initiatives ranging from art shows to community-led trainings. "We are also dedicated to increasing the representation of women and brown people in the art community," she says.
Their community-led events allow our artists to collaborate with each other as well as other advocates and support groups to, ultimately, invite the public into an open and healthy conversation around mental health.
"Draw For Mental Health events are requested by our community of artists and agreed upon collectively as a way to raise awareness and promote healthy, honest discussions about mental health, mental illness, and mental wellbeing through various forms of art," she says.
Beyond artworks, Sravya says the Draw For Mental Health initiative has a growing list of partners that provide affordable and accessible mental health resources around the world for creatives and non creatives. "We are also building a directory so clients in the mental health industry can discover artists with wellbeing specializations more easily," she says.
SUPPORT: You can follow Draw for Mental Health and find out more on Sravya's website.
