Meet Sasha Speer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sasha Speer.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My background is in medicine, but I have been an artist since I can remember. After finishing graduate school, I dove back into art, finding my niche as I went along. But it wasn’t until everything in my foundation crumbled, starting in 2011 with the death of my grandmother, then father, then my mother ending up in the psych ward, then being sued for everything my father left behind – and losing… then a divorce… My life was shattered and I didn’t feel I had anything or anyone to ground me. My soul was split open. As hard as this was, it has been through the healing and determination to persevere that my best art and my true calling has been born. I now create films and multimedia experiences that are birthed from these very experiences.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Ha! Nothing smooth about it. At all. I have climbed mountains and backpacked around the world – and none of it compares to how hard this has been. In the wilderness, you are faced with yourself at your most raw; but in art – you’re faced with articulating that rawness in a way that will move and inspire others. Then there is the added layer of living in our monetary-based reality – how do you create a living from all of it? Is there a right way to do it? Can I tell the truth – and have it work? So many questions. So much uncertainty. And there isn’t a guidebook for it. Everyone’s journey is so different – and it should be if you are creating authentic work. I have had to learn to listen and trust my soul and my intuition – which is everything logic says not to do; but in art – it works.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I create films and immersive multimedia experiences that heal and unite humanity. Right now, I am sitting here with a 6-inch incision, just having undergone surgery for a cyst that has been preventing me from conceiving. I now have a C-section – with no baby. This journey of attempting to have a child. Of losing. Of failing. Of finding hope. Is now my next project. We finished shooting the film (all underwater) just before this surgery because I knew I wouldn’t be able to be in the water for two months. I worked with pregnant mothers for the film – some of whom have been through infertility and miscarriages. We all suffer. Unfortunately, much of that is done alone and surrounded by shame. I aim to bring these experiences forward by marrying my own with those of others so we all feel seen and heard. The truth frees us. Especially when it is shared.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I spent WAY too long trying to figure out the “right” way to do art. There isn’t one. You have to get in tune with what is in your heart, your gut – follow that intuition. When it feels right – and you can’t miss the feeling – it’s like seeing someone you know you’re going to marry for the first time. You just know. Get in touch with that and follow it and you will find the most beautiful path.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.sashamariespeer.com
• Instagram: @sashamariespeer
• Other: https://www.sawubona.us

Image Credits:
Sasha Marie Speer Jenny Baumert Diana Fiel