Darby and I were born and raised in a haunted mansion in Victoria, BC and we spent our childhood playing in the surrounding overgrown gardens. We played make believe. A lot. Darby was really into creating elaborate games with dolls and playmobil about runaway orphans surviving on their own, and always in danger. She used to have all the sisters squeeze onto the shelves of the linen closet, to hide from a make-believe evil that was coming for us. We often talk about how making art is a part of our childhood, and as long as we do it we'll never have to really grow up.
I picture my sister Darby listening to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (the dinosaur scene in Disney's Fantasia) and making these dark, child-like drawings. Trained in dance and not in visual art, usually her drawings depict movement and physicality in a naive, unguided way. Her latest are loose, scary, and colorful. I think she's amused by the challenge of putting her imaginings onto paper. We grew up watching Disney movies, and honestly I think we're both a little haunted by that nightmarish, childish, representation of reality.
Darby now lives in Toronto where she works as a witch doctor, an artist, and the editor of my magazine.
