Deviation Spotlight
- June 1
- United States
- Deviant for 17 years
- www.vanderwaardart.com
- She / Her
I'm a trans-woman freelance artist who draws SFW and NSFW pinup art. I new have a book out and take commissions (details below).
Book details: My name is Persephone van der Waard and I am currently writing and illustrating a non-profit book series on sex positivity and the Gothic. Made in collaboration with other sex workers, the project is a four-volume set called Sex Positivity versus Sex Coercion, or Gothic Communism: Liberating Sex Workers under Capitalism through Iconoclastic Art. As of 2/14/2024, my thesis volume/Volume Zero and manifesto volume/Volume One are available online (the other volumes shall release over the remainder of 2024). To access my live volumes, simply go to my website's 1-page promo and pick up your own copies for free. While you're there, you can also learn about the yet-unreleased volumes, project history and logo design/promo posters!
Support My Travel Fund: Any commission money I make is currently being saved to fly out to see my partner, Bay, who lives in New Zealand. Tickets from where I live (America) range from $1600-2000, so every bit helps. I take illustrated and written commissions (click here to see my full rates information for both services as well as various commission examples). If you are interested in a commission, you may contact me on DA, Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky and Discord; my username is the same on all of them: vanderWaardart. You can also use my website's contact form, which puts you in touch with my business e-mail.
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"Out of this World," part one articulates what rebellion is, followed by what a rebel is and why they do what they do—then discuss modules and criminality with several performative examples: Samus Aran and the Wicked Witch of the West:
"Medieval Expression" explores the idea of the Gothic as a liminal, holistic dialog that transcends mediums; part two seeks out further examples in between my friends and I for this project specifically—namely the relationship between past media orbiting Red Scare:
https://vanderwaardart.com/2024/04/book-sample-the-fun-palace-medieval-expression-part-two
"Medieval Expression" explores the idea of the Gothic as a liminal, holistic dialog that transcends mediums; part one introduces the terms and explores their relationship in a more academic sense:
"Heaven in a Wild Flower," is a gender-studies hermeneutic: there being an aspect of the Medusa (war-like, morphologically diverse, and rebellious) to any monster that isn't—figuratively or literally—a white, Anglo-American, cis-het, Christian male.
https://vanderwaardart.com/2024/04/book-sample-the-medieval-heaven-in-a-wild-flower
This promo post, "Knocking on Heaven's Door," covers some Marxist signposts and sex work exhibits to underline how the Gothic (and Communism) transcend mediums as felt in everyday relationships:
This promo post, "The Eyeball Zone," explores interpersonal relationships in the broader context of ludo-Gothic BDSM during class and culture war—how we can relieve stress and address praxial concerns that we leave behind.
This promo post, "Green Eggs and Ha(r)m," wants us to be picky insofar as we’re mindful about what we eat, but not to the point that we refuse something that can change how we see the world; i.e., the Gothic as our proverbial green eggs and ham. This isn’t actual food; it’s a metaphor for trying new things like sex, the Gothic, ludo-Gothic BDSM, etc.
https://vanderwaardart.com/2024/04/book-sample-the-medieval-green-eggs-and-harm