mollswash

mullitover:

JONATHAN CHERRY: What did you have for breakfast this morning?

CHRISTIE YOUNG: Scrambled eggs with sriracha, and coffee.

JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?

CY: Definitely. I find myself returning to Megan Carney’s Relatives series quite often — her work strikes a chord with me in a way that a lot of photographs don’t. Andrew Musson and Sofia Torres. Also Keith Davis Young and Jackie Young - two photographers who I’ve been working on a year-long project with, whose work never fails to make me wish I was right alongside them on every road-trip.

JC: What is your current body of work all about?

CY: I’m working on a series titled I am shameless, I am ashamed, taken from the Gnostic text “The Thunder, Perfect Mind.” If you’re not familiar with the poem, it deals largely with the idea of a woman’s self-knowledge by way of “I am” statements with paradoxical predicates. The efficacy of these polarities lies in recognizing the unity of positive/negative, male/female, subject/object rather than viewing them as two sides of a coin. The text itself helped serve as a frame for determining how and what I would shoot in essentially the last years of my grandmother’s life. The series is a look at both my grandmother’s and my own self-knowledge, and what we choose to accept and ignore.

JC: Are you excited about 2011?

CY: I am, although it’s already moving by too quickly. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of changes this year, and I’m looking forward to that. A lot of tentative trips planned, which I guess is how every year starts out.

JC: What initially drew you to photography?

CY: I’ve always been interested in the role of the photographer as both observer and participant. I have memories of going to summer camp as a child armed with a cheap 35mm camera and thinking “What am I supposed to be taking pictures of?” — not knowing if I would regret using one of my shots on a Texas sunset rather than my friends. And while the question remained for a while about whether I was doing it “right,” I ultimately realized that photography was a personal experience that I wanted to do for myself. That’s not to say I wanted the end product to be private, but rather the methods and manners and motivations for which I shot were entirely up to me, and that was exciting. There’s something really nice about being able to create permanence from something dynamic. Photography allows me to think and create and work with my hands in a way that other mediums don’t, and I find joy in that.

JC: What do you like about where you live?

CY: I live in New York, and I feel very fortunate to have a community of friends and artists that are both encouraging and make me strive to do better work. I feel like I’m always learning. And there’s an endless supply of pizza here.

JC: Aside from photography what else are you passionate about?

CY: I draw a lot, and am slowly (painfully) learning how to play the mandolin. Also: The X-Files, pie making, and coming up with jokes which are usually just food puns. 

Christie Young: modern woman.