When I found out that it was impossible to pursue
what I wanted to do after high school, I became depressed.
I couldn't get a driver's license,
couldn't get a bank account,
like I was like, stuck.
The way I finally got out of that depression was
I started creating stencils on cereal boxes.
I literally stole my brother's, like x-acto blade,
and I bought a $30 canvas and I actually sold that on Etsy.
My name is Sarah Sandoval
and I'm a spray paint stencil artist.
I always knew I wanted to do art for a living.
In high school I went to go check out CalArts
and fell in love with it.
I decided, okay, I'm gonna try to do animation.
I ended up finding out that I was undocumented.
DACA wasn't in place until 2012 and I graduated in 2010.
So that kinda canceled all my plans after high school.
The way I got into street art was I watched a documentary.
I ended up Googling more about street art,
watched a couple videos on YouTube
in how to create multi-layer stencils
and from there, that's when I started
creating like, my style.
It's really hard for me to stick to one style,
doing the same thing over and over again.
I-I get too bored and I have to like, switch it up.
I've used markers, brushes, one-layer stencils,
multi-layer stencils, doodling, murals,
illustrations, done filming, YouTube,
I've even tattooed myself. (Sara laughing)
So the first step, I'm gonna be cutting out
all these individuals islands.
This one is almost completely cut out.
So ends up looking like this.
Each section has its own different color.
So I have, it's-it's really hard to explain
and you really have to just see it to kinda understand it.
The act of cutting out stencils feels very meditating to me.
Just sit there and listen to music
and I just feel like I zone-out completely.
Spray painting it and seeing it come to life
is one of my favorite parts.
I'd never wanted to show my feelings on pieces
'cause like, my art was usually a place
to escape all that stuff.
Like to escape like, being undocumented, being gay
or being a woman.
And it wasn't until the last four or five years
I started feeling like I needed to speak up.
So I've been working on a series
dedicated to essential migrant workers,
the people who pick the fruit
and people who are struggling just to feed their family
and make sure that they're safe as well.
Every month I was like, okay, how am I gonna do this?
How am I gonna be able to feed myself,
feed my dog and be able to pay rent?
I never had a safety net.
It's either this or nothing.
Like, there is no Plan B, there's only Plan A.
I was gonna do anything I can to like, be able to make it.
The moment I moved down here, one video
just like, went viral.
I did a-a piece with a famous rapper on it.
The rapper himself posted my video on his Instagram.
And that day, my phone was just nonstop ringing,
like emails, messages from everybody asking like,
"I wanna buy this piece or I wanna buy a print,"
and I was so overwhelmed and didn't know
how to fill all these orders for everyone.
A company reached out to me
and decided to make the prints for me
and sell them on their website, but I was sharing their
URL to all my followers and that's when I realized,
like, yeah that's, I don't like that.
I need my followers to go to one website
that will lead them to all the other different websites.
I think what I love the most is just how easy it is.
(Sara laughing)
I know it sounds cheesy but it's just like, so simple,
and I like, with GoDaddy I have so much control
over every little thing.
As I met all these different artists,
they started asking me like, "Hey, I have this mural.
Would you like to learn how to paint in a bigger scale
and get paid for that?"
I was like, yeah, of course! (Sara laughing)
The first few murals it was really scary.
Just being on a lift or on a tall ladder,
cutting stencils, like right on the wall
and just creating a huge piece I've never done before.
And the more I did it, the more I like,
went with like, friends
and helped them out with their murals.
I got so busy that I ended up realizing
it's already been four months that I was there
without even looking for another job.
And that's when I started realizing
yeah, I think I can do this full-time.
(Sara laughing)
My advice is just to keep going,
just keep producing, keep making connections
and just have fun with it, and don't feel
like you need to create something to please other people
and just create what you wanna create.