Painting Care into Public Art with Muralist Mayanthi Jayawardena

  “You can create art that is gonna make a difference in someone else's day that you don't even know. And 10 years from now, when someone else is walking down that hallway, they're gonna see your name, they're gonna see your art.”-Mayanthi Jayawardena on the power of muralsWhat happens when art becomes both your therapy and your toolkit for social change? In this episode of Durham Artist Archive, I talk with Mayanthi Jayawardena, a muralist, illustrator, and children’s book artist about that exact thing. She shared how her journey into art began as a form of healing while working in sexual violence prevention and eventually grew into a full-time creative practice.We discussed her shift from photography to murals, her passion for community-centered work, and what it was like working with some major clients like Dreamville Festival. I also loved digging into her collaboration with students at Southern Highchool on a mural and what it’s like bringing the community into big projects like that. All and all I found our conversation winding across mediums and topics but always rooted in the same thing: art as activism.This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in:* How art can be a tool for healing and personal transformation* Ideas for bringing community into public art* The behind the scene process of making a muralListen on Apple PodcastsListen on Spotify🫱🏾‍🫲🏼 Connect with Mayanthi Jayawardena:www.serendibcreative.comhttps://www.instagram.com/serendibcreative/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/serendibcreative👋🏽 Connect with me, Alyssa Cuffie Onuoha:https://www.instagram.com/alwhyssa/https://www.instagram.com/womanifestomag/alyssacuffie.comwomanifestomag.com☕️ Support the Pod:https://ko-fi.com/alwhyssa✏️ Additional Details:Sponsored by VAE Raleigh and their Snapdragon GrantRecorded at Queeny's in DurhamThanks for reading The Durham Artist Archive! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to The Durham Artist Archive at durhamartistarchive.substack.com/subscribe