We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rhiannon Salt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rhiannon below.

Hi Rhiannon, thanks for joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I am incredibly lucky to have many hugely kind acts given to me, but the one I would like share in hopes that it helps others is from my partner showing me through their immense love that my worth is not in my productivity and that I deserve rest and time to process my ideas, and to make them! And through that, that I deserve a sustainable creative practice. Which is not to say I am fully where I would like to be in terms of that because healing is not linear etc etc, but before meeting them, a large part of my creative process was cycles of burnout.

I am 25 now, and my first major health incident (apart from undiagnosed chronic illness) was at 19, when I got mono. Growing up I was taught in many ways that my worth was solely in what I could do for others in the most boundaryless ways (and often because I didn’t have a choice to do otherwise), and I would get punished for making art that was too vulnerable or even hinted at what I was experiencing in my maternal family. So when I left, I found myself, even with having a severe bout of mono, running myself into the ground boundaryless (also influenced greatly by the capitalistic view of productivity that is so ingrained into our society) and making art that while was very important to me, there was at least a 40 ideas in my sketchbook or notebook I was horrified to show anyone because they were too vulnerable. Despite having mono for seven months, my spleen infarcting, and having countless ER visits, I felt like I just had to keep going and doing. I felt like my worth was in my productivity, if I could just do more, sleep less (despite having multiple undiagnosed chronic illnesses that were worsened by mono), over commit, I wouldn’t have to think about what I needed, if I needed help, the trauma I needed to process, or what my life could look like if I listened to what my body needed.

The pandemic hit, and through staying at home, I had to confront the constant running away I was doing from myself and what I needed. After a bad break up and so much therapy with an incredible therapist, I realized I need to refrain from any sort of romantic involvement and work to heal the codependency and self destructive behaviors I had. And this was hard, and it did wonders. I closed a upcycled clothing business as it was picking up alot of steam because it was destroying my health, and pivoted to solely design and illustration of doing production and design. And then I met my beautiful wonderful and incredible partner!

And while I thought I had done the work to remove all of my codependent and workaholic tendencies, they started to come up again, as these do when you enter a relationship haha. My partner continually reminded me that they didn’t need me to over exert myself for them in order to be cared for. And they noticed ways in which I was still overcommitting, not holding myself accountable to my own boundaries, not being as proud of myself as I should with what I create and not resting that I wasn’t even aware of. This has hugely helped not only my health and my relationship with my own worth, but my creative practice. Because they have helped me be more sustainable in all aspects of myself, especially because I have to being chronically sick, I give myself more time to process my ideas, and they are better for it. There’s film ideas I have that I think of new things for every two weeks or so that I have been processing for over a year, that former me would have rushed to complete. I make sure to emphasize with clients adequate timelines and try to be transparent that sometimes my body takes the wheel for my schedule so things may have to be more adaptable. I am able to actually feel pride in myself more when I create something now. I compare myself less to how much abled people are able to create, because our experiences with the time we have are different and it is not fair to myself to compare myself to others in that way. They have helped me remember that the person the ideas come from, me, has to be taken care of as much as possible because the ideas will always be there, you know? And it’s still a work in progress, but I hope sharing this is a reminder to you, the person reading this, of what my partner continues to remind me. You deserve rest, you come first before all of the amazing and wonderful ideas you will create. Your worth is in the fact that you exist and not your productivity! And the pace you create it in valid because you deserve to take all the time you need.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Rhiannon, and I am a trans disabled artist/illustrator whose colorful, affirming and chaotic work centers lgbtqia+ and disabled experiences and empowerment! Additionally I do logo and graphic design for album covers, merch, and more! I am incredibly grateful to be able to collaborate with folks to visualize their ideas in way that is intentional and connects with the folks they are wanting to reach and impact.

I started creating both to share my own story having multiple disabilities/mental health conditions and being trans, to tell others whoever they are in this moment deserves to be loved and is worth so much, and to advocate for equity for everyone. Through creating, every time I have been able to collaborate with others or folks share with me what my work means to them, I am so thankful because it empowers me to keep creating!

I think the meaning folks find in my work is what I am most proud of. An example of this is my collaboration with Transfigure Print Co, for their chosen family is family collection, which is a beanie and patch that says “Redefining Love and Family is a very Brave Thing in a World so Afraid of the Act”. At the end of the day, all we have is one another and we have to support and care for each other, and I hope that the things I create remind people when I can’t be there to tell them that you deserve to be loved, respected and supported, and I am so happy you are here, whether that be through a loving phrase or a chaotic illustration.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is connecting with others and community. Art is communication, and it is so inspiring for me to be able to witness how others visualize their ideas and stories. I am constantly learning new ways of communicating my own ideas through art, and it is so exciting!
The vulnerability in creating is something that is so so special. Art truly has the power to change society for the better in countless ways and I am so thankful to be able to be able to use art to try to do that.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For two years, I ran an upcycled clothing brand called XYST UGLI. I either found all of the base shirts second hand or ordered them fair trade, designed all 30+ designs, and printed everything myself. Additionally, it was all customizable for the customer, and 20-30 percent of every purchase when towards mutual aid or an organization working to directly help folks experiencing marginalization. While this project meant so much to me, and I will be bringing it back slowly in the future in a way that works for my disabilities, it began to take over my life.

The business model I had created was deeply unsustainable. I was not pricing things enough for it, there was barely any time for me to create outside of the business (which is so necessary), I set too quick of turn around times, and with, at the time, undiagnosed MCAS and Sjogren’s Syndrome, the chemicals in even the safest screen printing ink began to destroy my health as I was printing everything out of my apartment without adequate ventilation. But, while all of this was happening, I was starting to get featured in magazines like Nylon and Teen Vogue. It felt selfish to even think that I needed to put the project on hold when it was starting to see the successes it did in such a short period of time.

I also knew deep down I was avoiding projects that were more vulnerable to me through doing XYST UGLI because I was scared as to how people would react. With the clothing brand I knew people liked it, but making a comic about my harm ocd when my symptoms had been weaponized against me before, who knew what would happen then?

Most of my time was spent working, going to college, doing this project, and having a horrific sleep schedule. One day, after many therapy sessions of me telling my therapist the stress and literal harm to my body this project was causing me, she said “What if you just stopped it?”
I paused, shocked that this was even an option that I could consider. I told her reasons of “Well what if people are disappointed in me? What if I am stopping something that becomes huge?” And then I thought about it, and realized if this got any larger, my happiness and my health would decline. And she said “You don’t have to continue it. Your health matters the most. You can just stop.”

And so, over the course of a couple days, I made a plan, and I stopped it. And the response to the closing sale was the highest amount of sales I had ever had. The support for the brand was so affirming in my decision, because it showed that people wanted to support me, not just the brand, at the end of the day, I was so grateful.

I had sold and given some of the designs to other clothing brands, and realized that the more sustainable route for me could be sticking to the design side of things and smaller scale item production. While before I couldn’t screen print in bed when I was flaring, I could draw in bed now for myself and clients. After having time to recover a bit from burn out (I am still burnt out often but it is so much better than it was), and have been learning slowly how to take care of myself more, my relationship with my creativity is so much better. I primarily make art prints and stickers on top of client work which has been so much better for me all around. And I plan to reintroduce clothes again, but save up to have them made in an ethical way that doesn’t harm my health. This pivot improved my life in so many ways, and has allowed me to trust myself in my creative decisions more.

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