TAP's Origin Story

The story of TAP began before it had a name.

In 2017, while researching the intersection of art and activism for my dissertation, I discovered the work of Kalki Subramaniam, an artist and activist in India who was using art to empower marginalized communities. Her work stayed with me because it reflected something I already believed deeply: art can help people reclaim their stories and be seen differently.

In 2018, I traveled to Kalki’s home in Pollachi, India, where I had the privilege of witnessing her work firsthand. Two years later, as the pandemic separated people around the world, Kalki and I found our way back to one another online.

We began meeting every day. We wrote morning pages, danced, created art, and reflected on what we were experiencing. Sometimes we stayed together for three hours. Those gatherings became an anchor during a frightening and isolating time.

From that daily practice, the Global Healing Dance Collective was born. People from around the world joined us to move, create, and connect. During a time defined by separation, art helped us build community across continents. That experience became one of the inspirations for TAP.

At the same time, I was completing my dissertation on art’s power to amplify marginalized voices. I worked with women activists in India, exploring how arts-based methods could challenge dominant narratives and inspire digital activism. This built upon my earlier work with LGBTQ+ communities and the Women’s Center at the University of Hawai‘i, where I witnessed how art could open conversations about difficult issues, including domestic violence.

Art has also been essential to my own mental health and recovery journey. During periods of anxiety and darkness, creating gave me a place to process what I was experiencing and helped me find my way back to myself.

TAP grew from all of these experiences: my research, my community work, my creative connection with Kalki, and my own healing through art.

Today, TAP creates spaces where people can express themselves through photography, writing, movement, and visual art. We use the arts to support mental and emotional well-being, strengthen connection, challenge stigma, and bring community voices forward.

TAP exists because I know—from both research and lived experience—that art can help people heal, recognize the power of their own stories, and feel less alone.