Unraveled Expert Artist Interview | Sasha Williams, Unraveled
Sasha Williams is a feral creator based out of Lacombe Alberta and we are thrilled to welcome her to the blog today!! Sasha is one of our most avid learners here at Unraveled. Meaning, she is alway soaking in all of our courses, lessons and workshops. She asks questions, starts conversations and digs deeper, always. She is a true artist with a hunger for creation.
She's madly in love with her fiercely strong-willed husband with whom she shares two wild but magical tornados they call children. She's particularly passionate about documenting womanhood, motherhood, and childhood, and would photograph everyone naked if they would let her. For Sasha, art is life and life should be lived intentionally and artistically. She is a firm believer in the power of art to connect and heal and having studied literature, art, psychology, and myth, she aspires to invoke these themes in her work. We think she does just that.
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Here is Sasha, Unraveled...
What inspires your art?
Everything. My kids, the landscape, movies, music, literature, psychology, mythology/spirituality. I feel like everything I've ever experienced or learned about or felt inspires my art.
What do you shoot with? Camera body and favorite lens?
My camera body is a Sony A7lll and I primarily shoot with my sigma art 35mm 1.4. I freelens, a lot. I have a helio lens and a lensbaby sol 45, but I find that freelensing is more convenient thank switching my lens, so my 35 is my go to.
What other ways do you express your creativity?
I write, and cry. And I curate my Instagram feed. Writing is a really important tool for me in understanding how I feel and how I want to put things together creatively. I also got a degree in English because I wanted to be a writer, but I'm finding that images can often say more than words can because you don't have to think to understand an image, you just feel it. Does that make sense?
How do you de-stress at the end of the day?
I read, sometimes have a bath, or just sit and breathe and ask my body what it needs. Most of the time I just crawl in bed and watch TV with my husband and hound him for back tickles.
What kind of music do you listen to while editing?
I like music that stirs emotion and I listen to so many different kinds. I love Agnes Obel and Florence and the Machine and almost everything Hans Zimmer does. Agnes Obel sounds like what I want my images to look like.
What is your favorite book?
Um, what's your favorite star in the sky? This is a terrible question to ask a lit person, so buckle up loves you are in for a ride:
I love Edgar Allen Poe, the psychological aspects of his work are brilliant and breathtaking. Right now I'm reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and it's so incredible; I didn't realize how pure and spiritual science could be. I'm also reading Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes and I'm in love. It speaks to the archetypal meaning in various folktales and their significance - particularly the wild woman archetype. I'm a big fan of Carl Jung.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Hold Still by Sally Mann (Which I feel gave me permission to use my own story as inspiration in my work). And the Chronicles of Narnia. Oh and My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok (EVERYONE should read that book). Basically any book that gave me emotional hangovers is my favorite. Can I just take a picture of my bookshelf to answer this question?
Name one movie that inspires you.
Hugo - I watched it years ago, long before I started photography, but the first thing I noticed about it was the color. The editing in the movie is so interesting and creative. I loved the cool shadows and warm highlights and that old vintage mechanical victorian aesthetic. I recently tried to create a preset inspired by the movie and it's the preset I use now.
How do you handle self-doubt or creative slumps?
I stop focusing outward and go inward. I read more, try to stay off of social media, I stop asking my kids to do my shot ideas and just document them playing, I go outside and try to find the beauty in the everyday, the beauty we miss if we aren't paying attention. And I tell myself that my "feel like shit" moments do not mean I am shit. And I listen to that pulse inside me that knows that art is what I was born to do.
What has been the most difficult part of your creative journey?
Learning to let go of my expectations and appreciate the beauty that can come from ambiguity. And also my obsession with skin tone. I'm constantly worried that I'm not consistent or creative enough. I often feel that my creative vision far exceeds my creative skill and that is probably the most frustrating thing about this journey thus far.
What is your favorite pizza topping?
usually and olives and mushrooms and onions. But I did have a piece of pizza in Rio Maggiore when I was on study tour that was legit just cheese and spices and it was the BEST pizza of my life.
What is your most favorite kind of light and why?
harsh light, golden hour during harvest (not all Alberta golden hours are created equal), low and moody indoor light, and most recently I have fallen completely in love with artificial light. Any light I can work with some dramatic shadows has my heart.
Who is one of your favorite photographers?
This is like asking me about my favorite book. So here's a first draft list but there are MANY more:
Mari Trancoso - She feels everything too, and how she tells a story is breathtaking
Danny Bittencourt - her hybrid work is just unreal Sally Mann - I'm really inspired by the mood in her work, the hiraeth I feel when I look at it.
Lauren Phillips - No one takes photos like Lauren. Her creative eye is unmatched
Teri Hoffard - I love everything about Teri, she's wise, she's fiery, and her self-portrait work is brilliant.
Sarah Driscoll - How intentional she is with her concepts and how clear her visions seem. And her use of grain. It was by doing a Sarah course when I first started with Unraveled that I felt really gave me permission to use grain.
What is your favorite course or lesson at Unraveled?
OUTLIERS! does that count as a course? Everyone go take this workshop it will change your life!! Also, Teresa Vick's course (Tapping Into your unique Style) I took it when I first started but it really got me thinking early on about my vision for my work and keeping that in the forefront of my mind throughout my early growth process was helpful. I also really love Mari's course Entangled Love Stories - it was after her course that I truly embraced my love of Blur.