Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Billie Sangha. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Billie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I knew when I was in elementary school, where I was privileged enough to have access to an education that valued the arts and creative expression. An annual book fair/student author festival allowed me the opportunity to illustrate and write my own books. It ended up winning an award, and I remember my peers and teachers encouraging my interests and hobbies that related to anything creative throughout my public education. I got to paint murals on the back of my school, design yearbooks, and draw comics for the school newspaper. It more than compensated for the encouragement I wasn’t getting explicitly at home because my parents were really occupied with making sure their kids were set up for academic and financial success. Art was always seen as a hobby that can only be indulged after you were meeting your basic needs and doing well academically. But even then, I hid the extent of my love for art from my parents, hiding art supplies under my pillow and decorating my room with a maximalist collage style before they could tell me to stop. Even though I knew they felt I was getting distracted and my artistic style (and eventual outward fashion sense) was over the top, I had enough educators and friends around me who helped build up my confidence and affirm my identity as an artist.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My career happened through word of mouth, I wasn’t actively pursuing one until people started asking me if I would be open to commissions or if I sold my work. I didn’t, up until recently, think my work was “good enough” to be worth people’s money. Teachers, classmates, and friends would show an interest in my drawings, memes, video editing abilities, poetry, portraits, comics, etc. At some point, I started being able to sell a little bit of everything: commissioned illustrations, zines, self-published short story or poetry collections, closed captioned services for videos that I would also edit, and even memes based on people’s astrology charts. I think people come to me to feel seen, whether it’s a satirical roast (with my memes and comics) or something that makes them feel understood and beautiful (such as through my astrology zines and portraits). I’m proud of how well I capture people, and how they seem very pleased with my work — to the point where I’ve seen it on clothes and blown up into larger prints and blankets even! With consent, of course. I take a lot of pride in how personalized and curated my content is to people’s sense of identity, whether that is connected to a colour palette they feel strongly about, their zodiac sign, birth chart, or something much deeper like their culture or family.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Pay them a livable wage. I think there can be a seriously misconception that art is not labour, or if you love what you do, it’s not about the money, and it somehow taints your integrity as an artist if you sell your work. I think those are just excuses to exploit someone’s talent. If it’s something you yourself cannot do, and it’s something you go to someone else with the expertise and the talent to provide a service or create a product, you should pay them. There doesn’t need to be a hurdle of the “struggling artist” phase that you need to overcome in your career. When artists make whatever they can, or undersell their work because they are catering to a market that doesn’t value their work, it perpetuates this thinking and hurts other artists who do price their services/products at rates that they should.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I grew up during a time where so many social media/creative platforms were taking off. MySpace, Tumblr, YouTube, Vine, Twitter when I was a kid, and now, Instagram and TikTok. There was always an algorithm to adhere to, metrics to chase, and an outside audience to please to affirm your talent or worthiness. I’m still a relatively small account on all platforms that I regularly use and create artistic content on. I’m still unlearning that my value as an artist is not derived from likes or shares, even if virality and visibility is the idea that the public, on a larger scale, understands “good art” to be. My art is good because I made it. That’s enough. When other people like it, buy it, share it, or are inspired by it, that just amplifies how special it already was to begin with.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/pastelpunjabi
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/billiesangha