I am the child of two deeply creative musicians and visual artists who each practiced diligently their entire lives, creating large bodies of work despite never being known as working artists. The conditions of addiction, trauma, and mental illness prevented them from finding any amount of success during their lifetimes.

Their creative drive — and the unresolved pain that came with it — was passed down to me, the eldest daughter. I started in music and visual art around the same time I was learning to speak, and after a few decades of trying to find my own identity with my work, separate from the inherited desire for success that was unfulfilled for my parents, it was when I hit rock bottom and entered therapy and recovery in my 30s and started on a path of mindfulness that I found my voice — and purpose — as an artist.

It started with two cassette tapes in my parents' living room over 20 years ago.

To be specific: a Lonestar K-5 Singalodeon 2 Bay Cassette Tape Karaoke Machine that I used to record layers of tracks for what would become the first demos for my solo project, Gardening, Not Architecture. I released the first "G,NA" EP in 2007 and intended to leave it at that, but by 2009 I had recorded my first full-length album, First LP, and was building my first multimedia live performance: a custom-built shower curtain wall of synchronized LED lights.

As my career grew, I became more and more interested in creating music and performances that felt immersive, cathartic, and therapeutic — bringing others fully into the present moment with their own thoughts and feelings. The music began to serve as the soundtrack for each experience, supporting the multi-sensory experience and setting the moods and tones for the story of each performance. A magazine writer once described my music as "cinematic bedroom pop," and that pretty much sums it up.

Technology and visuals have been part of this project since day one. Every new live show is an evolution of the technology and visuals used in the last show. Collaboration is key, and I am fortunate that so many brilliant artists have lent me their talents through the years, especially filmmaker Dycee Wildman, with whom I have been collaborating since 2014.

As an artist: I'm curious about theatre. I'm curious about language. I'm curious about lighting. I'm curious about film. I'm curious about dance. I'm curious about technology's role in art and community.

As a human: I'm curious about the mind and the ego. I'm curious about subject matter that is deep and challenging. I want to talk about the Big Life Questions, and I want to share what I am learning in my efforts to answer them.

I am an interdisciplinary artist using words, music, light, visuals, and performance to explore the conditions of suffering and the path toward awakening.

— Sarah