Jay Dailey is an Afro-Latin and Native interdisciplinary horror artist from Chicago, who focuses on acknowledging female rage, femme fatales, revenge narratives, reclaiming of hyper-girly and risqué aesthetics, and horror aesthetics with Black and non-black WOC women and femmes as the faces/lead characters.
*Content Warning: Fake Blood and Weapons *
What lead you to become a horror artist?
I believe it started with my mom. She had DVD racks full of every scary movie from the early 2000’s and almost every Stephen King book. I maintained an interest in it until high school, where I wrote a horror play called “Beleth” and received praise for it, but shied away from it after being made fun of for my horror makeup and alternative style. After re-connecting with my inner teen through therapy, I found myself watching the movies from my mother’s collection and playing in my old special effects makeup kit.
One of Alt Darling’s main missions is to provide representation to Black and other POC alts. Would you say you had that growing up? How would you like representation to be going forward if you could change anything?
Somewhat. In addition to being alternative, I was a plus-sized, introverted girl of color from the hood, so I pretty much never saw myself represented in horror media or any alternative brands. Going forward, I want representation to be more inclusive, more creative, and for alternative characters to be more well-rounded in terms of their personalities and backgrounds. I hope to see more of us at award shows, and I’m excited to see how many of us come back home to ourselves.
You can find more of her art on her Patreon, YouTube, or Instagram. All of the donations and pledges that she receives goes toward upcoming projects or organizations dedicated to Black women and femmes.