the artist
- Rebecca Young
- Feb 24, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 25, 2024
Rebecca Jayne Young
~
Australian Visual Artist Designer
Forager | Upcycler | Earth Warrior
Wild Woman | Mother | Creator Photographer
Nature & Cardboard Box Enthusiast
I'm drawn toward the simplistic native life; deep and meaningful connections within family & community are imperative to me.
My artwork emerges from my imaginative visions, dreams, self-growth, worldly expeditions, and the everyday magic that exists (but is not always seen). My long-held unfathomable intrinsic love for the earth and amour for nature is reflected within my artworks. I am passionate about the interconnections shared among all living beings.
All my artworks have an element of varying texture, intersectionality, paradox, contrast, opposition, imperfection, rawness, reducing, recycling, and reusing.
My work captures the universal current that flows through us, around and within us, entwining us all. I am captivated by the circle of life, cultural diversity, human strength, agility, generosity, and our soul's ability to connect with one another and the universe
I inherently believe the most magical and magnificent treasures in the universe cannot be seen, imagined, or even touched – they can only be felt.
When it comes to art...
I do not believe it is possible to grade art. I do not believe there is a "wrong" or "right" way to create. There are no "good" or "bad" works of art. Art just is. It exists as it is.
What I love most about art is the way it gives us a glimpse into the artist's inner world; it allows us to see how they see, understand, and feel. It shows us what moves them and allows us to learn from them. It opens us up to new ways of being and enables us to be in community with them in their offerings.
Look through my eyes as you browse through my artwork, and you'll see how and what I see, feel and experience when I look at (and exist) in the world.
Throughout my childhood...
I treasured the tranquil open-air and the enchantment found within the bushland of my small hometown in Guringai and Darkinjung Country -- Lisarow on the Central Coast, NSW, Australia.
You'd often find me exploring, experimenting, investigating, and creating in the gardens and local bushlands, observing life and connecting to the earth. In these ambient spaces, you'd often find
me exploring, experimenting, investigating, and creating in the gardens and local bushlands, observing life and connecting to the earth. In these ambient spaces, I was held by nature. This curiosity and comfort have transcended into my adult life.
My ethics, ideals, and passion for reducing, reusing, and recycling stemmed from my childhood. As far as I remember, I had a strong conscience about caring for our Mumma Earth. As a child, I was fond of nature and a minimalistic way of being.
I am the youngest of four siblings. Receiving hammy downs from a young age taught me to be resourceful. I learnt how to respect and value pre-loved goods, always finding new ways to up-cycle pre-loved treasures and make them new. I spent many primary school lunches and recesses solo foraging, crafting and sketching.
I unearthed inexhaustible resources from waste and local bushlands and used debris as creative mediums for innovative art, formations, conceptions, and designs.
As a brown-skinned mixed raced child, I was curious about my Jamaican roots. I often had difficulty straddling my difference in our uncompromising world alongside the few distinct diverse minority cultural identities that were (and continue to be) placed on me. My introspection and continued struggle for self-identity and self-actualisation in our western and vastly Caucasian society have become increasingly relatable challenges with age.
Art, self-expression, and nature have become necessary platforms for me to seek self-acceptance, understanding and expression. Art is a pathway to healing. It opens me up and allows me to peel off the multilayers of my experience, which has stemmed from a life of trauma, paradoxes, intersectionality, intergenerational wounding and oppression.
In 2014 I explored Africa.
I found the sacred terrain we all descended from alluring. I was drawn to the African earth, music, dance and culture. When I visited Stone Town, my curiosity for ancestry, elders, the spirit, and history was enticed even further. I visited the former slave market in Zanzibar, Tanzania (East Africa). I was overwhelmed. The former slave market was notorious for trading and selling Central and enslaved East Africans. The trading of men, women and children was stopped by a decree from the sultan of Zanzibar on 6 June 1973, following the appeal made by Dr David Livingstone in 1857 to liberate Africa from slavery.
I was lost for words, completely heartbroken when I visited the enslaved people's holding areas. I could not capture the site or the feeling it evoked in a photograph. The experience, however, was life-changing. I couldn't quite comprehend the inhumanity that took place there.
As I stood in the dank underground space, I felt a force like non-other I had experienced before; a feeling of sorrow that was not my own was drawing me back to the slave chambers -- over and over, I returned to them. I spent considerable time alone in the cells, with the darkness and chains-- to be still – to breathe. Somehow, in a dark, damp space where I would usually be afraid to be alone, I found warmth and comfort. I felt a bond there, an unexplainable deep-rooted connection with the area. I could feel a weight of pain on my shoulders and also a sense of releasing and holding.
In the Serengeti, I observed the circle of life in its organic flow. What I witnessed there challenged and metamorphosed my sense of integrity and morality. The wilderness can both be beautiful and brutal. I learnt how greedy and violent we are as humans and how harmoniously other species exist alongside each other. I learnt that splendour and chaos are both necessary components for the survival and dependence of all species, big and small. Every species has a significant role and contribution within the circle of life.
I was in awe of the strength found within the wildlife and the people. I was particularly captivated by the African women and children (both past and present) throughout the sacred land.
I am conscientious as an artist and human being to continue to centre myself, connect with others, and expand my self-awareness and introspection of the experiences of others and my own experiences.
Since visiting Africa, I have continued to climb on an internal path of growth, investigation, unlearning and learning, expansion, experimentation and exploration. The self-embodiment and self-development practices I undertake are reflected within my artwork.
I am not affixed to one style of art or specialty. As I continue to evolve as a human being, so will my artwork. I am still learning new ways and unlearning old ways of being in life and art. I am a curious seeker who loves to question how little I know and investigate how much more there is to discover. I love to play with new mediums and experiment. I explore new terrains and learn new skills constantly.
♡ RJY ARTISTRY
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Rebecca Jayne Young
Australian Visual Artist l Designer
Forager l Upcycler l Earth Warrior
Wild Woman l Mother | Creator Photographer
Nature & Cardboard Box Enthusiast
BA Psychology Student
email: rjy.artistry@gmail.com
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