Sara Golish is an emerging visual artist born in Windsor, Ontario. She captures the essence of femininity and beauty through her artwork and seems to find joy in using women of various ethnic origins as her central muse. Her work is refined, dignified and in my view quite magnificent. She has dared to be bold with her art and it works – there is an enduring sense of power in each of her images which resonated with me from the moment I discovered her work.
“Beyond the Sea” by Sara Golish, image courtesy of the artist.
How has your identity influenced your art?
I’m not sure if I can say that my own personal identity has truly influenced my work.
However, what I can say, is that I believe where I grew up [Windsor, Canada] had a strong influence on my interests because of the city of Detroit across the river from us.
Going to Detroit was a common occurrence among family and friends. I grew up listening to Detroit radio stations, Detroit TV, Fahrenheit was what I knew and didn’t comprehend what 25 Celsius felt like until a good year after I moved to Toronto. Everything in Windsor is heavily influenced by America. I used to listen to the “Oldies” Detroit radio station that played Motown hits naturally, and I fell in love with Black music. I believe the being and soul of Detroit had a great impact on who I became and what my passions are to this day.
Your style tends to focus on a strong visual head shot, mainly of women of African/Caribbean Descent. What inspired you to develop this style?
While I’m not certain where it stemmed from exactly, since I was a child I’ve always been drawn to various cultures worldwide. I have a deep affection for the multiple and endless skin tones that our world has to offer. All the colours and all the beauty are unending. I am also drawn to the notion of portraying people who are, unfortunately, not commonly depicted in our society – especially in strong and empowering ways.
Women have also always been the center of my art practice. From the time I was drawing princesses and mermaids as a young child to my work today of strong female characters, women are what have always inspired me in ways I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to fully grasp.
Images From “Moondust Collection” by Sara Golish, image courtesy of the artist.
Your art clearly reflects multiculturalism, some would even use the term afro-futurism to describe some of your pieces, what is it is about racial identity that influences your art?
Yes, the Moondust collection specifically, is very heavily based in and inspired by the Afrofuturism movement.
For people to feel pride and see positive affirmations in any element of themselves, specifically in regards to what one identifies with, be it being a woman, being African, Black, African Canadian, multiracial, etc. is definitely a great hope of mine. To empower and elevate the viewer of my art to experience self-love.
It is often argued in the mainstream media that women are continually battling to find their own idea of beauty, how do you define beauty and is there really a “battle” to find it?
Through my work, I aim to remind those that are not so commonly displayed in the mainstream media that they are in fact beautiful regardless of what the media force feeds us all. However the definition of beauty as a whole is not simply aesthetic in my eyes. It is so much more than that. Beauty encompasses an entire state of being. Spiritually, internally, externally, energy; what we put out in the world, our passions, our beliefs, how we treat every being on this earth and the earth itself. Is there a battle to find that? Most definitely because of the society most of us [regardless of where we come from, it seems] are brought up in, focuses solely on outer beauty and generally a Eurocentric or White model as the epitome of beauty. Of course changing these current standards must take place in order to break down those boundaries and I can only hope that my art can and will encourage such changes.
“Love Light in Flight” by Sara Golish, image courtesy of the artist.
Which of your pieces do you feel expresses the essence of who you are most accurately?
I couldn’t choose one, for the reason that the true essence of who I am, my soul, my being, are so many varying entities all wrapped into one. All of my work takes on different aspects of those elements in each piece. And there is so much more which will come out in future work, and works and ideas already in progress.
Do you create based on your own loves and passions or do you keep in mind the desires of others?
I have always created strictly based on my own passions and interests. Of course I always hope, as an artist, that those same passions will resonate with others as well.
Moondust is a phenomenal body of work. How does it define this stage in your artistic career?
Thank you! All I can say is it’s just the beginning. It’s just the beginning…
[…] can read a great interview with her here, or on her website, […]
[…] is a brand new collection featuring ten portraits of Sungoddesses by Toronto-based artist Sara K. Golish. The collection was unveiled at the Brockton Collective this past week, during the summer […]