Sarah Winifred Searle Tells the Truth

Sarah Winifred Searle has a simplified, comfortable art style that belies the honesty she’s willing to express in her work. You may have seen her art illustrating Ruined in the Fresh Romance anthology, and she has an original graphic novel coming from Iron Circus next year. In the meantime, though, she’s recently published two striking works online.

At the Nib, “The Price of Acceptance” tackles the topics of struggling with dangerous ways to lose weight in order to feel accepted. She doesn’t have answers but the questions she asks are chilling and thought-provoking.

Her piece for Rewire, “You’ll Be Just Fine” is even more revealing, about getting treatment for HPV, a sexually transmitted infection. She covers whom to tell, how to afford the medical visits (thanks, Planned Parenthood!), and struggling to recover a feeling of dignity.

I admire her strength in sharing her experiences and tackling topics more people need to think about.