Jackson Free Press

Artist Adam Farcus hasn't needed much time to make friends and make a difference in Jackson.

The Illinois native moved here last November as the William R. Hollingsworth Fellow at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Since then, Farcus, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, has been featured in several local exhibitions, joined the advisory committee for And Gallery and is working to reopen an alternative gallery, Lease Agreement.

Farcus has always been interested in the arts, something that was nurtured at their grandfather's farm, where Farcus would work on crafts, draw birds and collect fossils in the pasture.

"The kind of energy I had for those things is the same kind of energy I have when I get excited about an idea that I make now," Farcus says.

Farcus uses art to discuss a wide range of issues, from climate change to LGBT rights. Farcus focuses primarily on sculpture, but also works in photography, video, writing, drawing, painting, music and performance art, and on occasion, one piece will transition through several stages before Farcus finds the right medium.

Farcus sees arts education as important creative practice, both in adding to personal knowledge and teaching others.

Farcus earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Illinois State University in 2006 and a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2009. They stayed in Chicago for two more years, working as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Francis and working with Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education.

Then, Farcus moved to Baltimore for about two years, teaching part-time at the Maryland Institute College of Art and running the first iteration of Lease Agreement before entering a one-year fellowship at Rollins College in Florida. Farcus returned to Chicago in 2015 and lived there until accepting the MMA fellowship last fall.

Before the fellowship, Farcus had not considered moving to the South but soon realized that, to make a difference, it is important to reach out to places where one's ideals are not as widely accepted.

"There's this thing as an artist, educator, activist, feminist and all those other 'ists,'" Farcus says. "Doing that in Chicago is so great and rewarding, and there's so many other people, and you're part of a movement. ... But I think, if my goal is to actually effect some kind of change, then it's important to bring that to places where that isn't as present or predominant."