Artmaking is a foundational part of my spiritual practice as well as a way of reorienting my relationship to the world beyond inherited systems. Painting is a process of focused energy and attention - a contemplative act, a kind of communion, and a sustained exchange with the natural world. The content of my work emerges from experiences that have reshaped my understanding: pregnancy and birth, encounters with animals, psychedelic states, pantheism, and the psychological impact of patriarchal religion. I use these experiences as points of departure for visual inquiry.
I’m drawn to threshold states and the intimacy and fragility of living within a human body. Hands and anatomical forms reflect my interest in vulnerability and the ways the body carries lived experience.
Although I work across mediums, much of my process is a negotiation with water. Fluid forms behave unpredictably, and I respond with structure and restraint. The work becomes a document of the tension between surrender and control. Through this process, I seek to explore interconnectedness, transformation, and embodiment while cultivating awe toward the living world.
Liz Darling is a visual artist based in Kansas, United States. With a meticulous approach and an emphasis on process and exploration, Liz creates symbolic imagery across media, examining the dissolution of boundaries between the body, nature, and the unseen.
Darling’s work has been exhibited regionally and nationally, including solo exhibitions at Urban Art Gallery, P.E.O. Foundation Gallery at Cottey College, and Box at Santa Fe, as well as group exhibitions at Spiva Center for the Arts, Missouri Southern State University, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, and other venues across the United States. Her work was included in a curated digital presentation for the First Latin American Gathering of Menstrual Culture and Art (Menstruartivismo) in Chiapas, Mexico. In addition, her artwork has appeared in numerous publications, including multiple editions of the We’Moon datebook and anthologies from Mago Books and The Girl God, and has been featured on film sets including HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher and Hulu’s Sex Appeal. Her work is held in private collections throughout the United States and abroad. She holds a BFA in Painting from Pittsburg State University and continues to expand her practice through ongoing professional development at the Kansas City Art Institute’s Educators ArtLab and other workshops.
In addition to her studio work, Darling maintains a long-standing practice of visual documentation, observing the shifting details of natural environments, the absurdity of late-stage capitalism and overlooked moments of beauty and decay. She has been an active participant in regional arts communities for over a decade, contributing to exhibitions, festivals, plein air events, and collaborative projects.
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