Michael Darcy

Website: www.michaeljosephdarcy.com
Instagram: @darcedarcy

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Darcy is a photographer and bookmaker who explores how form, materiality, and structure impact our experience with content. He thinks through making and each project is a self reflective attempt to grow. Michael was born in Rochester, NY, where he recently completed an MFA at the Visual Studies Workshop. In 2014, Michael graduated from Fitchburg State University with a Bachelor of Science in Communications. He has held the positions of Digital Photographer for Collections at Historic New England and Digital Imaging Manager at Lumiere Photo and has completed two internships in Photography and Digital Media at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. His work has been included in various group shows at venues such as the Photographic Resource Center, the Fitchburg Art Museum, Main Street Arts, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center; and in 2018 he had a solo show at Fitchburg State University. Recently, he received the Image Out award for his submission to 20Emerging at Gallery Q. (photo credit: Liz Donadio)

ARTIST STATEMENT

How to Draw Tornadoes
When I was in elementary school I was scolded for scribbling in my notebook. The teacher did not accept that I was drawing tornadoes and proceeded to teach me the “correct” way to draw them. Looking back, many aspects of my education, from art making to social norms, were taught in a canonical way. I’m realizing now how much it impacts the ways I think, and how difficult it is to break from this conditioning. A sewing machine scribbles tornadoes through the pages of this book violently disrupting images that symbolize my narrow-minded upbringing. As the dust settles, I imagine a world that is more inclusive and community minded; juxtaposing my experience learning multiplication with passages from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and exploring how trees prioritize the health of the forest over their individual success.

Present
The book is bound on two edges with the cover page reading: "Tear this book to read. Follow instructions as they turn up.” Each book in the edition has its pages randomly shuffled and as readers navigate the book, they find some instructions impossible to follow due to pages being glued and sewn together. Confronted with this, readers must accept their inability to comply and grapple with the resulting feelings. The title Present is a pun playing with the idea of the wrapping paper like pages, and the idea of being present (a gift I wish someone could give me wrapped in a neat box). Edition of 25 unique books.

Paint the Moon
Paint the Moon’s impetus is a story my parents told me when I was little and asked why the moon was broken. I had noticed the phases of the moon. I was told that my father (a former house painter) would get a very tall ladder and paint a little bit every night until it was “fixed.” This fan book, reminiscent of a paint sample book, illustrates the phases of the moon in paint scrapings on one side and family pictures of myself, my father, and my grandfather on the other. Through images, dates, and anecdotes, it creates a timeline showcasing how a narrative of work ethic and merit was passed down from generation to generation, and how privilege was glossed over as a contributing factor to our success. The book’s circular form complicates the common notion that social progress will inevitably happen as the linear timeline is shown as a never-ending cycle. Having been raised on ideals like merit I still struggle to not conflate my self-worth with productivity; even knowing that the myth of meritocracy contributes to our cultures insanely off-kilter work life balance, and worse the ability for society to write off people in need as lazy. Through this book I am questioning how these myths became so engrained in my identity and how I can navigate my future parenthood so that I do not perpetuate these ideals in my children. Edition of 29.

ARTIST'S WORK

How To Draw Tornadoes
2021, 8.5” x 11” x 1”, 130 pages, hand bound on linen tapes, Laser jet printed pages, hand and machine sewn thread.

Present
2020, 5.75” x 7.5” x 1.5”, 120 pages, hand bound, cardboard, Laser jet printed construction paper, glue, thread. Edition of 25 unique books.

Paint the Moon
2021, 2” x 10” x .5”, 54 pages, HP Indigo printed pages, rag board, post bound fan book. Edition of 29.

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