Therapy for the World

Tattooing as Care and Wearing Stories on the Skin

Bianca Felicia Maria is a tattoo artist whose work blends technical skill, artistic vision, and storytelling. Besides her degree in Visual Communication and Design, she's been in the tattoo world since 2019. About her tattooing philosophy, she says, "Tattooing is more than ink and imagery; it's a way to connect, to heal, and to transform both myself and those who trust me with their stories." In this conversation, Bianca reflects on her early life, including how losing her father to suicide at 17 shaped her path as an artist. She remembers selling and trading her art pieces as a girl, as well as her first gigs photographing weddings as a teenager. We talk about her own first tattoo of a semicolon, and what that symbol means to her now as she continues her annual offering of free semicolon tattoos for those affected by suicide. She also goes into the thorough process of research, consultation, and design that goes into each tattoo, as well as the bond that is developed with each person in the tattoo chair. Support the project: patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld Music credits: “Limit 70,” licensed by Kevin MacLeod “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, from the Library of Congress Jukebox

Art for Everyone: The City as a Living, Public Gallery

Sofi Rami is a first-generation Colombian-American artist and explorer of the human experience. She especially works in the field of public art—large-scale murals and installations that are visible in everyday spaces, turning walls and streets into places of connection and imagination. In both her public projects and her private studio, Sofi uses acrylics and spray paint to create dynamic, abstract, and dreamlike landscapes. Her pieces weave together personal narratives, cultural heritage, and a strong foot in the natural world. In this conversation, we talk about her history and inspiration as an artist. Sofi reflects on how the fine art world often feels inaccessible to the public and how public art can serve as a democratizing force. She shares her earliest influences, the emancipatory experience of painting live at events, and the ways she involves communities in her creative process. We also explore how her work engages with themes of mental health, cultural heritage, and the broader social responsibilities of artists. Support the project: patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld [http://patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld] Music credits: “Limit 70,” licensed by Kevin MacLeod “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, from the Library of Congress Jukebox

The Child Within, the Art of Editing, and Finding Poetry in Daily Life

Sofía Sánchez Martínez is a poet, singer, editor, and researcher whose work moves between literature, music, and performance. She’s originally from San Luis Potosí in Mexico but has lived in Sevilla for a decade, where she earned a PhD in Communication from the University of Seville, as well as a Master’s in Creative Writing. She’s the author and editor of many books across several presses, including plays, essays on Latin American avant-garde movements, and poetry. I find her writing to be ethereal. Her stanzas are condensations into words of feelings that can be so difficult to grasp with care and precision. Her poetry has been translated into several languages, awarded the Luis Cernuda Prize, and appears in multiple anthologies. Sofi and I first met years ago when we were neighbors in Sevilla, and we reconnect every so often to talk about craft, editing, and life paths. In this hour, we talk about the long arc of her creative path—from editing and publishing to eventually finding a new life in music. Support the project: patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld [http://patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld] Music credits: “Limit 70,” licensed by Kevin MacLeod “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, from the Library of Congress Jukebox

Seeing the World Through the Lens of Insects and Phenomenology

Hyun-Yong is an entomologist and PhD candidate at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I reached out to him because when I met him a few years back, I appreciated his thoughtfulness and his quirkiness. He's someone who doesn't fit neatly into categories—a person who might be described as contrarian or sui generis, someone of his own kind. In his work as an entomologist, Hyun-Yong also draws from his training in environmental philosophy, especially the phenomenological tradition, which centers on observing the world, its things, and its occurrences neutrally—with curiosity and wonder. From the beginning, his work has explored the blurred boundaries between “nature” and “artificiality,” asking how biodiversity can flourish in spaces shaped by both humanity and ecology. That includes hybrid landscapes such as solar fields in the Northeastern U.S., or the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea, where Hyun-Yong is originally from. In this conversation, we trace Hyun-Yong’s journey from his childhood fascination with insects to his current projects as a doctorate student. We talk about ADHD as both a challenge and a source of focus for him, and his use of poetry to describe nature exactly as it is.  Support the project: patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld [http://patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld] Music credits: “Limit 70,” licensed by Kevin MacLeod “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, from the Library of Congress Jukebox

Migration, Music, Otherness, and Psychoanalysis for the People

María Verónica Laguna is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, clinical supervisor, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Uruguay. She spent over a decade working in New York City, where she taught Social Work at Mercy University and served as an instructor at the Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She is the co-author of From Grad School to Private Practice: A Roadmap for Mental Health Clinicians and has forthcoming chapters on immigrants’ self-states and critical psychology. Her work spans continents and disciplines—she founded The Bicultural Collective to support bicultural individuals and the clinicians who serve them, and leads Psychoanalysis and Social Justice, a collaborative database curating events and resources at the intersection of clinical practice and activism. She also explores the intersection of music and mental health, facilitating workshops on tango’s therapeutic power and on learning Spanish through Latin American protest songs. I first met María through that protest songs group, and then discovered we share other interests—psychoanalysis, social work, and the experience of migration from the Southern Cone to the United States and back again. She is warm, good-hearted, and passionate, and it was a joy to connect with her for what I hope is the first of many conversations. In this hour, we talk about the role of immigration and otherness in the consulting room, the cultural roots of psychoanalysis in the Southern Cone, and what it means to work towards a psychoanalysis for the people. We explore how music and movement can be tools for healing, how to channel anger into social change, and how clinical work, activism, and art can meet in the service of collective wellbeing. Support the project: patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld [http://patreon.com/TherapyfortheWorld] Music credits: “Limit 70,” licensed by Kevin MacLeod “Meditation” by Jules Massenet, from the Library of Congress Jukebox