SAB MEYNERT
by MATTHEW JAMES-WILSON
The immense beauty and intricacy of Sab Meynert’s work comes as no surprise after meeting the amazing woman
creating it. Growing up in the suburbs of Toronto as a queer individual of Sri Lankan dissent is an awfully specific situation, but it’s entirely reflected in the uniqueness of her paintings, illustrations, and zines. Sab’s work deals with the emotional content of her personal experience and perspective on a less immediate level within her work. This not only makes the work welcoming and engaging to anyone observing and interacting with it, but also allows it to pull more from the universal characteristics that bind us as people, rather than alienating or ostracizing those who can’t relate to her experience.
Today Sab is an active member of the vibrant zine and comic community within Toronto, and is anticipating the release
of her first published book coming out early next year. She brings a refreshing optimism to the collaborations she does with others and the projects she undertakes on her own. When I met her for the first time at her home in Toronto back in August, she provided a warmth that only comes from artists who genuinely care about what the others around them are doing, and has since been a source of wisdom and inspiration in my own life.
Where are you from and where do you live currently? I live in downtown Toronto, and I’m from the suburbs of Toronto originally. Are you trained at all in your field of art or are you primarily self taught? I’ve been drawing and working on my own form of making for a long time, but I did go to art school. I’ve got a minor in graphic design & and major in illustration.
What was your experience like at OCAD? What parts of your education inform the work you’re making now? Overall I have …feelings… about it. The peers and friends I made there whom I’m still in contact with are the biggest reward from attending. I’d say I learned how to be resilient, to develop a thicker skin, and how to learn to trust your peers’ opinions of your work as much as the authority figures, haha. How did Sever Press first start? I met eli howey in 2012 and we started it together as a
“We saw a lot work coming out in the scene that was from a place of privilege and not very reflective of our social spheres, so we aimed to provide and use a platform to give our community some sort of foot in.”
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