Nitya Mehrotra uses her skills as an animator to create more than just art — she’s building a community. The Chicago grad student is the founder of an online platform called Stories by Strangers that supports the physically and mentally abused. Mehrotra, 23, created the safe space for abuse survivors to anonymously share their struggles and trauma.
It’s an outlet to help others with similar stories that also provides resources for those still coping. According to the site, over 2,000 stories have been submitted via email since 2023. Mehrotra, who uses the pronouns she and they, collaborates with people who submit their stories to create art that reflects their individual narratives.
Mehrotra, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in film and animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then animates the art for a short that features the survivor’s words accompanied by music. The shorts showcase gender neutral cyclops characters — with names such as Kuku, Oli, Bib and Vitra — set against a backdrop of moody colors that are posted on an Instagram account with over 43,000 followers. It usually takes her a week to do two animations.
“I give them an idea of how they can represent themselves (in the story),” Mehrotra said. “Since it’s a collaborative process, they tell me if they would like to customize the character in a way that helps them take more control of the story or maybe makes them feel better about it.” Changing colors or the way the char.