M. Morty Chen

I was born in the 1990s and grew up with the idea that the world was a “global village.” Since then, however, I have continually witnessed the deepening polarization of the world. Much of my work is dedicated to creating spaces for dialogue and expanding people’s capacity for imagination, as a way of resisting this polarization.

More specifically, mental health has been the entry point for this work. The form of mental health activism I am committed to is not only about helping individuals feel better; it also aims to open up public imagination around the complexity  and ambiguity of mental health issues, thereby cultivating a broader civic consciousness about the social and political conditions that shape both our experiences of suffering and how we make sense of them.