I was raised in what could be considered a stereotypical Christian, conservative household; that’s how I would classify it now, anyway. When I was little, my grandma read me bible stories over breakfast, and my mother hung this little framed quote on my bedroom wall that said “to be afraid is to believe in evil more than you believe in God.”

I clung to those words for life. The world never felt like a safe place to me. As long as I believed in God, I knew I was at least safe in that my soul would go to heaven when I died, but I also knew there were a lot of people out there who didn’t believe in God, and I knew that the devil could have his way with any of us if we weren’t careful.

I always figured the devil’s way was to make us mean or turn us into criminals or something. As I got older and leaned into things like goth culture, political activism, and my own queerness, I came to understand that those things apparently meant the devil had had his way with me, too, at least according to some.

When I looked in the mirror, I saw two versions of myself: the one I was proud of, and the one I was ashamed of. I coped with this through my art, and I still am today. The Sanctum of Stars came about a couple years after I graduated college, as I was finally recovering from the stress of doing it all and opening my eyes to what I really wanted to do with my life.

So here I am!