Hey there! I’m Naomi (she/her), and this is the story behind the Sanctum of Ash.

I was raised in what could be considered a stereotypical Christian, conservative household; that’s how I would classify it now, anyway. When I was little, my grandma read me bible stories over breakfast, and my mother hung this little framed quote on my bedroom wall that said “to be afraid is to believe in evil more than you believe in God.”

I clung to those words for life. The world never felt like a safe place to me. As long as I believed in God, I knew I was at least safe in that my soul would go to heaven when I died, but I also knew there were a lot of people out there who didn’t believe in God, and I knew that the devil could have his way with any of us if we weren’t careful.

I always figured the devil’s way was to make us mean or turn us into criminals or something. As I got older and leaned into things like goth culture, political activism, and my own queerness, I came to understand that those things apparently meant the devil had had his way with me, as well, at least according to some.

When I looked in the mirror, I saw two versions of myself: the one I was proud of, and the one it seemed everyone else was ashamed of. I coped with this through my art, and I still am today. The Sanctum of Ash came about a couple years after I graduated college, as I was finally beginning to recover from the stress of trying to do it all.

Truthfully, I don’t remember what specifically planted that seed in my mind; I just know that my dad got me started on art really young, held IMMEASURABLE space for me in ALL my angst and rage as I grew up, and now my dreams are right here in my hands.