Sarah Taitano wants you to take a breath. Pause. Take a look around. 

As an artist, Sarah finds miracles in the mundane, and she hopes her work nudges people to assess life and take it all in. 

“Our world is more than we were ever taught and more than we could ever imagine,” Sarah said. 

Currently living in Guam, Sarah has roots that extend across Micronesia. 

“Originally from Saipan, growing wiser and fruitful on Guåhan. Ethnically, I am Palauan, Chamorro, Ulithian and German,” she said.

Sarah launched her online shop, More Art x Less War, a few months ago in May. She spent the better part of the past decade creating digital designs and graphics pro-bono for friends and work and shared her art on Instagram. She started getting requests for prints and gained opportunities for commissioned work. She then ventured into selling designs through her Society 6 account, https://society6.com/pacifism. 

The inspiration behind More Art x Less War, Sarah said, is merely the intention to create. 

“Mainly the inspiration is to promote the willingness to create versus destroy because creating is an everlasting sacred act of producing what is within our own control,” Sarah told The Husk.

More Art x Less War features Sarah’s original designs on tees and hoodies. “I am often creating and exploring my artistic ranges so other items such as home decor, stickers, accessories and Indigenous-inspired jewelry get posted when I do,” Sarah said. 

Sarah’s designs are equal parts timeless and modern and undoubtedly conjured up in the Pacific.

Of her work, Sarah said it’s “art representing touches of collective Oceania. Always paying homage to the stars. Themes fall under anything that promotes Indigenous wisdom and creation and reduction of destruction. Anything that pays homage to our true selves, to the planet, to the stars, to the ethers, to Truth.” 

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Always forward 

For Sarah, her ideas come from a wealth of sources. She said she looks inward, backward and always forward, taking stock of elements in archaeology, anthropology, geometry, quantum physics, ascension practices, sustainable architecture and divine design that resonate with her. 

“Many design inspirations come from making sense of the human psyche and claiming forgiveness in the progress of our personal and collective evolutions. Many times, the best inspiration comes from the liminal spaces that we all can find ourselves standing in when we’re transitioning between doors, whether it’s through high/low points in life or experiencing the shift between 2:59 a.m. and 3 a.m. during a comfy night you’d rather stay awake through,” Sarah added.

When dreaming up the name for her Instagram account and her online shop, Sarah said “More Art x Less War” is a call to focus on solutions. She added, “The path of peace lights up for us when we are focused on creating the new and focusing less on the wars that never get us closer to where we want to head to.” 

It’s a simple appeal. More art. Less war. In the context of 2023 worldwide conflict, it’s eerily timely. 

In her work, Sarah said she plants seeds of personal revolution and she hopes her art helps people know they aren’t alone. She hopes it reminds people that there is so much more to the world beyond what one can see.  

“There is a true critical reality of our taught reality; that not everything is as they seem. That we are a creative society with a conscious. That the idea that we need war — organized lethality — to gain peace and balance is a faulty equation. That there is no box,” she said of what she hopes More Art x Less War conveys to people. 

Sarah also said she hopes her work gives people pause. “Mainly, I hope others gain a moment of silence to pause and reflect on the world around us and to reflect on the world within ourselves to be reminded that everything is interconnected,” she said. 

‘Chase at your own pace’

For aspiring artists, Sarah advised, “Grow with your flow and chase at your own pace.”

Choosing a gradually-paced workflow has been instrumental for Sarah. In a time where fast fashion moguls churn out products on a loop, and content creation requires chronic contact, Sarah has chosen a different route.

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“What has helped me grow is by not forging a path that is solely business-based. I create when creativity is present. I produce when energy is right,” Sarah said. “The ‘slow-business’ model has also helped me learn sustainable ways to keep going at my own pace in small batches … that is zero harm to my spirit and lesser harms to the planet’s style of production and its destruction.”

Sarah said that choosing art for play over profit allows her time to recharge. It has also allowed her to build partnerships and collaborate with others. Any profit she does make goes into supporting her sustainable workflow and supporting others. Sarah urges artists to follow their own flow. 

“You can be afforded the ability to expand your creations calmly as it should be and ensure yourself that every little thing you create is something magical to be proud of,” she said. “In times when your creative spark is low, accept and allow it because it just means you need time to brew — even if it takes years.”

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Support Sarah

Peruse Sarah’s designs online at the More Art x Less War shop, https://moreartxlesswar.com/, and through her Society 6 account, https://society6.com/pacifism. 

Follow her on Instagram, @moreartxlesswar, https://www.instagram.com/moreartxlesswar/, and @a.spirit.room, https://www.instagram.com/a.spirit.room/. 

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