Who is sarah?

Short Bio

Sarah Firth (she/her) is based on Wurundjeri Country, Melbourne, Australia. She is an artist, writer, cartoonist, graphic recorder and animator, originally trained as a classical sculptor. She has received a Talking Difference Fellowship from the Immigration Museum, was a finalist in the Incinerator Gallery Award For Social Change and her comics were part of Eisner Award-winning and Ignatz nominated comic anthologies. Her debut graphic novel “Eventually Everything Connects” was listed as The Age’s Non-Fiction Pick of The Week, ALIA’s Notable Graphic Novels of 2023 and one of The Best Graphic Novels Ever by Refinery29.

Headshots And Media Release

Download a selection of portraits for media use.

Download the media release for my debut graphic novel “Eventually Everything Connects”.

Extended Bio

Sarah Firth has many notable achievements as an artist and writer. In 2006 Sarah was named one of Australia’s top 25 artists aged 25 and under in the 25/25 show by Art & Australia Magazine. In 2007 she received a commission and residency with Carriageworks, followed by a commission from Experimenta Media Arts in 2010.

In 2012 she was awarded the Talking Difference Fellowship at the Immigration Museum, and her animated documentary won a People’s Choice Award in the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. In 2017 she was in the Yogyakarta Biennale in Indonesia, the Lakes International Comic Festival in the UK and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

In 2018 she received a Frankie Magazine Good Stuff Award, was a finalist in the Incinerator Art Award for Social Change, and her graphic essay on complexity was listed in The Conversation's ten of the best literary comics in Australia. And in 2020 she won an Eisner Award, as one of the artists in the “Drawing Power” anthology. That was also named one the best comic anthologies by the New York Times.

Sarah has a stack of self-published zines and workbooks available here, and has had her comics and illustrations published by Black Inc, Routledge, Affirm Press, Allen & Unwin, Abrams Books, Penguin Australia and Picador Australia. She also has work online with The Nib, The Conversation, Human Parts, Frankie Magazine, and ABC Arts.

Her debut graphic novel “Eventually Everything Connects” is available now. It is a collection of creative nonfiction essays, exploring living with uncertainty and trying to make sense of the world. This book has received support from the Creators Fund program in 2019, a City of Melbourne COVID-19 grant in 2020, a VicArts grant in 2021 and an Australia Council Grant in 2022.

STFCS Business Bio

Since 2010 - through her business Sarah The Firth Creative Services - she has offered tailored and impactful client experiences across sectors and contexts. With the mission to help visually clarify, amplify, and bring great work and ideas to life.

Her services range from live graphic recording, graphic facilitation and strategic visualisation, to infographics, graphic essays, illustration, animation, explainer videos, coaching and training.

Some of my clients

Publications

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2014 - 2017

MEDIA & INTERVIEWS

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2007 - 2011

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Drawing Power. Sarah Firth is an Eisner Award-winning comic artist and writer

Sarah Firth is an Eisner Award-winning artist

Sarah is a founding committee member of GRA.Graphic Recorders Australia is a not-for-profit professional membership association, initiated to support the growth and quality of the Graphic Recording community in Australia. And to ensure the ongoing h…

Sarah is a founding committee member of GRA.

Graphic Recorders Australia is a not-for-profit professional membership association, initiated to support the growth and quality of the Graphic Recording community in Australia. And to ensure the ongoing high standard of quality in our industry, for practitioners and our clients.

Sarah is a member of IFVP - a global network of recognised graphic recorders and graphic facilitators.

Sarah is a member of IFVP - a global network of recognised graphic recorders and graphic facilitators.

Sarah was Deputy Chair of the Board of CDN 2018 - 2021The Cultural Development Network works to increase the expression of culture through the platform of the arts, libraries and heritage.We build the capacity of local governments and arts organisations across Australia to support artists and local communities.

Sarah was Deputy Chair of the Board of CDN

2018 - 2021

The Cultural Development Network works to increase the expression of culture through the platform of the arts, libraries and heritage.

We build the capacity of local governments and arts organisations across Australia to support artists and local communities.

SPEAKER

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2012 - 2016

  • An Inkpot of Fate Tasmanian Writers Festival

  • Graphic Recording Panel Stanley Awards

  • Human Rights Arts & Film Festival Award Winners Panel

  • Face to Face Project Launch

Films & Animations

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2009 - 2011

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

Education

2022: Anthrolopogy of Trauma 3-week course with Dr Alex Pavlotski

2021: Anthropology of Embodiment 9-week course with Dr Alex Pavlotski

2020: Anthropology 101 9-week course with Dr Alex Pavlotski

2019: Systems Scribing Lab 5-week course with the Visual Practice Workshop

2018: Visual Practice Workshop, systems thinking and professional development with Presencing Institute, Melbourne

2014: EuViz, graphic recording and facilitation training forum, through the International Forum Of Visual Practitioners, Berlin

2011 - 2014: Graphic recording and facilitation training with the difference at PwC, KPMG U-Collaborate and the ASE at Capgemini

2012: 13 week Graduate Animation Intensive at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

2006: Second exchange to Kyoto Seika University, Japan

2005: Scholarship and exchange to LASALLE SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

2004: First exchange to Kyoto Seika University, Japan

2003 – 2006: Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at the Australian National University, Canberra

 

workshop, teaching, facilitation & festival experience

2021: Graphic Recording Training Intensive. A three-week graphic recording training for Aldinga Payinthi College

2020: Visual Design Expertise Support. A three-week visual communication training for ATO Enterprise Strategy and Design Branch Leaders

2020: Artist Toolkit Workshop with Ainsle & Gorman Arts Centres

2016: Carbon Arts Garden of Earthly Delights interactive environmental pledge project at the Castlemaine State Festival

2014 - 2016: Graphic Recording training workshops

2014: Jervis Bay School comic workshop with the ACT Children & Young People Commissioner

2014: IWDA Annual Reflection two-day strategic planning workshop

2013: Australian Red Cross, Australian Volunteers In Development Program, Annual Reflection, two-day strategic planning workshop

2012: Cultural Comic Workshops with the Imagina Museum and the Arquetopia Foundation, in Puebla, Mexico with students ages 6 - 15yrs

2012: Talking Difference Workshops with the Immigration Museum Fellowship with primary school students aged 10 – 12yrs

2012: Bondi Pavilion Animation Classes series of three-day animation intensive workshops with children and teenagers aged 10 – 16yrs

2010-2011: Face to Face comic drawing workshops with the Cultural Council in Springvale and local primary school groups of children aged 5 – 12yrs

 

Selected awards, Grants, commissions and residencies

2023: We Were Here, short listed for the Island Magazine Non-Fiction Prize

2022: Bullshit Buffet, #42 Kuś Scientific Facts nominated for an Ignatz Award

2021: COVID Chronicles named one of the best graphic novels of 2021 by The Washington Post.

2021: “Particulars” commissioned by City of Literature.

2021: Feeling Small Today nominated for the Broken Pencil Zine Awards, Toronto, Canada.

2021: VicArts 6-month grant for the research ad development of my debut graphic novel.

2020: Drawing Power won an Eisner Award for best anthology.

2020: Drawing Power and Choice words on the Ledger Awards Short List.

2020: City of Melbourne COVID-19 Arts Grant for the research and development of my debut graphic novel.

2019: Drawing Power selected as one of the best comics of 2019 by The New York Times

2019: Neither Here Nor Hair awarded Silver Ledger, at The Ledger Awards

2018: Grant from the Creators Fund program for the research and development of my debut graphic novel.

2018: Finalist in the Incinerator Art Award: Art For Social Change 2018

2018: Winner of the Frankie Magazine Good Stuff Awards in the Video category, for my animation

2018: Comic collection Short Shorts finalist in the Ledger Awards

2017: Krack! Studio Residency, Jogjakarta, Indonesia with The Comic Art Workshop

2016: HEADSHOTS - official selection of the Aesthetica Short Film Festival,

2016: PLAN poster Civil Society Innovation Award

2015: First Prize winner at the BrunswickArts Show

2015: The Comic Art Workshop Residency

2014: Winner at the SquishFace Studio Coaster Show

2013: Wake Up, (mini-comic) nominated for the Ledger Awards

2013: Crafting Pathways, a documentary about the Wellsprings For Women Inc. Centre, funded by the Margaret Lawrence Bequest

2012: Gentlemen, Please! was selected as a finalist in the Peninsula Short Film Festival, Rosebud, VIC

2012: People’s Choice Award Face to Face: Children’s Stories, in the Australian Shorts section of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival ACMI, VIC

2012: Arquetopia Artist in Residency in Oaxaca and Puebla, Mexico

2012: Chantilly Studios Artist in Residency, Nicholson Building, Melbourne

2011: Awarded the Talking Difference Fellowship at the Immigration Museum, Melbourne, VIC

2010-2011: Artist in residency with the Cultural Council in Springvale VIC as part of their Face to Face project

2010: SELF animation, selected as a finalist in the National Youth Portrait Prize, the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

2010: Commissioned to make a drawing machine by Experimenta Media Arts, Melbourne

2009: CAPO Grant, Canberra

2009: Winner of the CCAS Copy Cat Show, Manuka CCAS Gallery, Canberra

2009: Solander Gallery Art Prize, Tuggeranong RYA, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, Canberra

2009: Y-Fronts in the Wind, finalist in Canberra Short Film Festival, DENDY Short Seasons and winner of Best Screenplay made for Lights! Canberra! Action! 

2007: Commission - drawing machine for Performing Objects and Machines, Carriage Works Sydney

2006: Selected for 25/25: Australia’s top 25 artists aged 25 and under, sponsored and selected by Art & Australia in collaboration with Noise, Sydney

2006: Awarded exhibitions at The Front Gallery, The Hive and The Grammar School Gallery through the Emerging Artist’s Scheme

2005: Awarded the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts Singapore Scholarship, Singapore

2005: Awarded the ANU Nigel Thompson Travelling Scholarship, Canberra

 

Selected group exhibitions, Fairs, performances and festival screenings

2024: Australian Comics Exhibition in Chengdu, China

2023: Buggin’ Out, Off The Kerb Gallery, Collingwood, curated by Tegan Iversen

2023: Bowie BB, Honey Bones Gallery, Brunswick, curated by Tegan Iversen

2022: Australian Comics Exhibition in Bangkok, Thiland

2022: Powerhouse Late with the Sydney Writers Festival, curated by Mariam Arcilla, Sydney.

2022: Behind The Lines: The Year in Political Cartoons. MoAD, Old Parliament House, Canberra.

2022: Illustrate Your Life Comics Show, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

2021: Papercuts Comic Arts Festival, South Australia.

2020: OneonOne virtual live event where storytellers, poets and artists come together

2018: Incinerator Art Award: Art For Social Change 2018

2018: The Other Art Fair, F*EMS (Females For Equality Making Stuff) Artist Collective

2018: Inner Atmospheres, Perth International Comic Festival

2017: Yogyakarta Biennale, The Comic Art Workshop

2017: Lakes International Comic Art Festival

2017: Indigenous Literacy Foundation Silent Auction, Penguin Random House, North Sydney

2017: National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Zine Showcase at the Melbourne Art Book Fair

2017: GUTTERS Perth Fringe Festival

2016 - 2018: Festival of The Photocopier, Melbourne Town Hall

2015: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Zine Fair

2015: SUPERGRAPH Melbourne Exhibition Centre

2014: 40x40 Show, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne

2014: Crafting Pathways screened at the Wellsprings 20th Anniversary, Dandenong, Melbourne

2014: The Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts Postcard Show, St Kilda, Melbourne

2013: Crafting Pathways screened at the End of the Line Festival, Belgrave, Melbourne

2013: Los errores en México screened at the YOU ARE HERE Festival, Canberra

2013: Face to Face: Children’s Stories in the Long Shorts Screening at the Shadow Electric at the Abbotsford Convent

2012: Illuminations, Jitter Festival, Bondi Pavilion, Contemporary Australian Animation

2012: Face to Face: Children’s Stories in the Australian Shorts section of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival ACMI            

2012: Face to Face: Children’s Stories, Bondi Pavilion Festival Sydney, SOHO Shorts in London and the Human Rights Festival in Melbourne

2011: Face to Face: Children’s Stories, 7th RENDERYARD Film Festival, in La Rioja, Spain, GENERATION NEXT at NOVA Cinema, Melbourne.

2011: RE: http://regarding.com.au/artwork/ a 7 month online gallery project

2010: Reflex – the mechanical poetry of kinetic sculpture, Gaffa Gallery, Sydney CBD

2010: For my sister, Blank Space Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney

2010: Reflex – the mechanical poetry of kinetic sculpture, M16 Artspace, Fyshwick, Canberra

2010: Akin to, The Front Gallery, Lyneham, Canberra

2008: Tableaux Attic, M16 Artspace, Fyshwick, Canberra

2008: Red Shoes presents: Tableaux Vivants, Peepshow, The Front Galley, Canberra

2007: Nico & Claudette, The Fringe Festival Canberra

2007: Performing Objects and Machines, Carriage Works, Sydney

2006: 25/25: Australia’s top 25 artists aged 25 and under, Art on Bourke, Surry Hills

2005: UrbaNONurban, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

 

Solo exhibitions

2015: HEADSHOTS BrunswickArts

2011: Attraction, Red Gallery, North Fitzroy, Melbourne

2008: Drawn, CGS Gallery, Red Hill, Canberra

2007: Can I Kiss You? Photospace Gallery, ANU, Canberra