Arrest All Mimics Podcast: Sarah Beetson

It’s hard to think of anyone who lives a creative style quite to the degree that Sarah Beetson does. Born in northern England and based in Australia, illustrator, artist and designer Sarah is the poster girl for what we should aspire to when seeking that part of us which cannot be replicated; the unfiltered self, crafted through years of experiences, highs, lows and everything in between and distilled into a precious formula. When we allow a drop of that to enter our creative output, that's as close as we can get to true originality. 

I visited my uncle’s house back in Yorkshire recently. He is a keen collector of music memorabilia and we spent a few hours looking through his collection. As a kid, he was cool because he could draw and would lend me horror films on VHS. Now, he’s the man. My mind was blown by his frankly rude collection of original punk rock artworks and record covers from the 1970s and 80s. But then he truly activated something inside me when he casually wheeled out a rack of original ‘anarchy’ shirts, hand made, dyed and designed by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren. These shirts were works of art and they changed my views on what fashion can and should be forever.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Sarah Beetson embodies a punk aesthetic, the DIY, balls out the bath, this is who I am and you’ll have to learn to live with it attitude, with a big smile and no snarling. She’s been referred to as the Rainbow Crusader and I bought into that identity within seconds of meeting Sarah. It’s as if she’s taken the anger, vitriol and defiance of punk, learned to laugh whilst she’s doing it and added in some neon paints and a packet of bubble gum. It’s hard not to smile when spending time with her and here is the chance to listen to her story as we discuss her inspirations. Sarah tells us all about her role as head of talent recruitment at Illustration Ltd and an attitude that lays down the marker for authenticity in art.

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