Artist, photographer and creative director Sarah Bahbah is giving Marie Claire an exclusive look at her inspiring book collection! Sarah opens up about her journey as a creative, the books that changed her life, and an in-depth look at her new photo book "Dear Love."
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00:00 Hello, welcome to my office.
00:02 My name is Sarah Baffa.
00:04 I'm a visual artist, a writer, a director, a photographer.
00:09 I kind of dabble in all creative fields and I love it.
00:12 I am so excited to show you my books.
00:14 This is Marie Claire's Shell Portrait.
00:18 Okay, so first up we have Happy Hour by Marlo Brandos.
00:27 This book is about two young girls who moved to New York
00:30 with pennies and they somehow manifest their way
00:33 through some really beautiful situations.
00:36 I loved reading this book because it reminds me
00:39 of my youth and when I first moved to New York
00:44 and I was trying to make ends meet and somehow I would end
00:47 up in the craziest situations as well.
00:49 And I think it's just such a light, beautiful
00:51 coming of age story.
00:53 If you want a light read and you feel like getting
00:55 out of your head, this book is for you.
00:58 Next up is one of my favorite poetry books ever,
01:01 Khalil Gibran's The Prophet.
01:04 He is a Lebanese poet.
01:07 He was absolutely brilliant and he left such a mark
01:11 on the world for the way he spoke on the human experience
01:15 and love and pain and friendship and self-knowledge
01:18 and teaching and, ah, this guy.
01:22 Are you kidding me?
01:24 Ah, my heart.
01:26 This book taught me that pain is something
01:30 we should embrace.
01:31 All the feelings that we experience as humans
01:33 is something we should embrace and celebrate
01:36 and enjoy the burn whenever you're feeling bad
01:39 about yourself, whenever you're in darkness.
01:42 Pick up this book and you'll feel seen, you'll feel loved.
01:46 I promise you, read this book.
01:49 Next one is a really special one to me.
01:53 It's A River Dies a Thirst by Mahmoud Darwish.
01:57 He is, or was, sorry, a Palestinian resistance poet.
02:02 This book really captures his experience having lived
02:07 in occupied Palestine and it's haunting, it's powerful.
02:12 My dad and my grandparents, they're all from Palestine
02:15 and so when I read this book, I really feel like
02:18 it gives words to their experiences of having been displaced
02:21 from their homes, really feel like he dreamed for my family
02:26 and he gave us all a voice and so I highly recommend
02:30 reading this book.
02:31 This next book, ah, the way it sent me.
02:36 Okay, so I read Attached by Amir Lavigne
02:42 and Rachel Heller a few years ago.
02:44 It was at the top end of 2021 and I was grieving
02:49 a relationship that I never wanted to end
02:52 but I had to for my sanity and when I read Attached,
02:57 I actually learned for the first time that I have
03:00 an anxious attachment style and I've been consistently
03:03 dating avoidance and so what this book did to me
03:07 was blow my mind and it taught me the tools that I needed
03:12 to set healthy boundaries in my relationship
03:16 and look out for the smoking guns and the red flags
03:19 and notice when you are potentially entering
03:22 an anxious and avoidant trap.
03:24 Read this book, I love it.
03:27 The next book that I recommend for everyone
03:30 is The Drummer of the Gifted Child.
03:34 This book is by Alice Miller and when she speaks
03:37 about the gift, she's actually referring to the gift
03:41 of apathy and numbing.
03:43 When I read this book, I started therapy immediately.
03:47 I'm not even kidding.
03:48 I got sober, I started making really good,
03:51 healthy changes to my life in order to start to feel
03:56 the world that I live in and not numb myself
04:01 because I realized I'd been stuck in survival mode
04:03 for so long.
04:04 This next one I actually had to sit down for
04:06 because it's really special to me
04:09 but it's also really, really heavy.
04:11 It's my own book called Dear Love.
04:15 I actually just finished it and have launched it
04:19 into the world.
04:20 It's 10 years of my art and it's a lifetime of storytelling.
04:25 It took me one year of intense labor last year
04:28 to get this done.
04:29 It's quite massive.
04:31 It's 421 pages and it features all of my art,
04:36 all of the series that I've ever done
04:39 and for the first time, I kind of dive into each series
04:42 and what they represent
04:44 whilst also sharing experiences about my life
04:47 and my childhood and the person that I've become today.
04:51 What book have I read most in my life?
04:55 Definitely this one, Practicing the Power of Now
04:58 by Eckhart Tolle.
04:59 I've been reading this since I was 19
05:02 so for a really long time now.
05:05 It's just such a great reminder to stay in the present moment
05:08 and everything that happens in the future happens right now
05:12 and everything that happens in the past
05:14 happens right now.
05:15 So right now is all that matters.
05:17 I buy most of my books from BookSoup in West Hollywood.
05:22 Yeah, I love that place.
05:24 I get a coffee, I go, I spend ages in there,
05:27 I pick up three books,
05:28 I only ever end up reading one of them
05:29 but yeah, definitely BookSoup.
05:32 My favorite childhood book is The Missing Piece
05:35 meets The Big L.
05:37 It's by Shel Silverstein
05:39 and I actually didn't read it as a child.
05:41 I read it as an adult.
05:43 [laughs]
05:44 But I just love how it took me back to that place
05:48 of being young and I think adults should read
05:53 children books more often
05:55 because the message is always so pure
05:58 and there's such great reminders
06:01 of our core and our essence.
06:04 This book is so cute, please read it.
06:06 The book I'm excited to read next
06:09 is The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.
06:13 Apparently Julia really teaches you
06:16 how to get inside your head as an artist
06:19 and take everything out and then release it
06:22 and so I know she makes you do morning pages,
06:25 she encourages you to go on artist dates
06:27 and yeah, I'm excited to dive into it.
06:30 What's my favorite book cover of all time?
06:34 Am I allowed to say this one?
06:36 'Cause I really wanted to make the best book cover
06:41 of all time.
06:42 [laughs]
06:43 But in all honesty, I think publishers
06:45 need to do a better job of making cuter covers
06:48 because there's so many great books
06:51 that have ugly covers and people will never pick it up
06:54 because the cover doesn't lure them in.
06:56 My favorite place to read a book
06:58 is definitely on the beach.
07:00 That's actually where I read most of my books
07:02 'cause the only time I ever have time to read a book
07:05 is when I take some time off in summer.
07:07 A famous person I would like to do a tell all.
07:13 Has Brad Pitt done one yet?
07:14 'Cause I will be reading that book in a second.
07:17 This book is available at dear-love-book.com
07:23 and it will look so good on your coffee table
07:27 and I really hope that the stories that I share
07:30 reach you in some way, teach you something
07:33 and if not, you can just enjoy the photographs
07:36 that I have in here.
07:37 Ah, there's so many, there's literally so many.
07:40 That concludes my Marie Claire shelf portrait.
07:44 Don't forget to like and subscribe
07:45 and I will see you guys soon.
07:47 (gentle music)
07:50 (gentle music)
07:52 (upbeat music)