Today we’d like to introduce you to Darci McFarland.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been writing, drawing, and creating things for as long as I can remember. I studied Sociology, and Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies in college and grad school, and most of the art I create reflects that somehow.
I never imagined I would be an artist and writer full-time, but after losing my nonprofit job at the beginning of the pandemic, I dove head-first into my passion full-time.
More than full-time when you’re running your own business, but I got so burnt out fundraising for non-profits that routinely discard their employees after running them into the ground that I would much rather work overtime for myself than physically and mentally destroy myself by being exploited in the name of the community and “women’s health.”
It has been a long journey since I started my Etsy shop with two listings in grad school ten years ago, and with two finished books on my bookshelf, I’m proud of where I am today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. I’ve moved over 15 times in the last 15 years, I’ve had a dozen different jobs.
There is never enough art funding if it exists at all, much less for women or queer artists. I know zero queer artists in this capitalist society that aren’t burdened with trauma and chronically underpaid.
It has been an incredibly challenging road, but I’m hoping it eventually smooths out some.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I create feminist & LGBTQIA art and anthologies.
I’m most proud of my books. They’re collections of poetry, essays, and visual art by dozens of artists and activists. The first one, Post-Traumatically Stressed Feminist, was published in 2017, and it contains the work of 32 survivors centered around their lives with PTSD. The second book, Bible Belt Queers, was published in October of 2019, and it contains the work of 78 LGBTQIA artists about their relationship to where they call home.
It was important to me to create books that I, and so many of my friends, needed at some point in our lives, books that reminded us that we’re not alone.
What matters most to you?
Art. Justice. Revolution. Our current systems are failing us and the planet, and I’m just trying to make art to cope with it all.
Contact Info:
- Email: ptsfeminist@gmail.com
- Website: www.ptsfeminist.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ptsfeminist/
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/ptsfeminist
Image Credits
Erika Ryan Photography and Millie Randolph Photography.
