Sara\u2019s ability to capture such specific unfiltered emotions (often those it feels we only express while in our own company, out of the potentially judging stare of others) makes her work endlessly relatable. Take a trip to the comment section on the illustrator\u2019s Instagram page and you\u2019ll find many comments that simply read \u2018me\u2019. Sara\u2019s take on this reception is an interesting one: \u201cI think relatability can be a byproduct of making work based on the human experience,\u201d she says, \u201chowever, I think it\u2019s dangerous for the end goal to be relatability.\u201d So rather than leading with the mission to create something \u2018relatable\u2019, Sara simply stays true to accurately capturing her own personal experience of the world.<\/p>\n
The tiny recurring character is, essentially, a depiction of Sara. \u201cShe\u2019s me,\u201d the illustrator says, \u201cbut she\u2019s also separate from me \u2013 like this condensed, extremely distilled version.\u201d To gauge situations, expression and emotion to use for her works, Sara takes time to analyse her responses, but it doesn\u2019t involve a mirror, or cheeky iPhone selfies, just a gut feeling. \u201cI have no idea how I actually look when I respond, but I know how I feel,\u201d says Sara. It\u2019s this process that Sara believes is the real reason behind people\u2019s reaction to her work: \u201cI think my work being relatable is a result of me being true to myself,\u201d says Sara.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, however, humanoid figures simply won\u2019t cut it, and Sarah resorts to animals to more clearly realise her scenes, from fish and birds to bugs and mice. What Sara does so well is to capture the small mundane moments that can mean so much. A piece the illustrator is particularly fond of is Bug saves you a seat, a comical scene of an auditorium of bugs sitting on chairs, seemingly awaiting a show, film or lecture to begin, with one looking back at the viewer, pointing at the chair it has saved for them. \u201cThere\u2019s something really warming about someone saving you a seat,\u201d says Sara. \u201cThen I decided to add more and more chairs of bugs making the saved seat even more special. I like the idea of the viewer being invited into a piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much like this piece, in which a character is literally beckoning you to join, Sara\u2019s whole body of work feels like an invitation, to laugh, commiserate or to relate. Despite coming from such a personal source, the illustrator\u2019s determination to capture something so innately human means her work feels like something special, and something to be shared.<\/p>\n