BIOGRAPHY

Originally from Milwaukee, Darling split her educational years between the Midwest and East Coast. She received her MFA from State University of New York at Purchase College before returning to Milwaukee. Darling has been teaching Foundations and Fine Arts courses at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design since 2006. She is a co-founder of PushPullPress Cooperative and The Healthcare Show (an on-going project including exhibitions, zines, and a blog). Darling also co-founded DIAA Milwaukee (Discussing Intersections: Artists & Addiction), and served several years on the board of A Broader Vocabulary Cooperative (Feminist Bookstore and Community Center). Her work has been exhibited in NYC, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Chicago, Racine, Sheboygan and Milwaukee. Darling is currently working on a memoir entitled Hurry Up, Relax (or how to start your life over).

ARTIST STATEMENT
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The human body has always been central to my work. Specifically, the unrelenting, daily regime of Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes, which has greatly influenced what and how I create. Numerous pieces have been constructed from diabetic paraphernalia accumulated over the years – in which personal daily rituals are used to illustrate the repetitious narratives that hold everyone’s daily life together. Since 2008, when I launched The Healthcare Show (with a fellow artist/diabetic), leading up to that year’s presidential election, the personal/political divide evaporated for me. The notion of the artist working alone in the studio became problematic. Although my personal esthetic would persist – via printmaking, photography, drawing, sewing, assemblage, artists’ books – being introduced to video projections and interactive performance work allowed me participation in several long-term collaborative projects such as The Healthcare Show, The Yell Room & Hushed Hysteria and #emptypedestals.

https://www.zoedarling.info/

https://www.youtube.com/@zoedarlingmke

https://www.narrativeofprivilege.com/