We recently connected with Mer Young and have shared our conversation below.
Mer, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I descend from a committed and diligent lineage. But my ‘ma would be the one to be an example of perseverance. My ‘ma was a single parent and worked a laborious position for many years to provide for all of us (myself, siblings, and guardian to her younger sisters). Witnessing her determination, to get up every day, care for us, to have adequate and essential needs met, meant the everything to me. I “over”stood her sacrifices. Observing her has humble me and I take heed to all she has done.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am merely allotted energy. I am inspired by all of life’s experiences, by eroded tree sheath, by water reflections, by the sparrows fallen feather, by the iridescent beetle, by my son’s creations, dance, imagination, and much more. I have been creating art since childhood but have been active in the art industry for nearly 20 years. I have created many artworks from collages, digital collages, drawings, paintings across Turtle Island and have painted murals in the South Bay of Los Angels and Orange County. My current focus has been painting murals and collage work. My collage works have been the heart of my creativity for the past eight years. I reimagine 1900 photographs and create a new narrative that brings about color and life; it is also an offering to give back a vision of lands to these ancestral relatives. Murals have been community focus, a way out of the gallery space and connecting with others and sharing stories. I currently have a residency with CSULB Design to create a mural that engages students which ends in May 2024.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe sharing experiences and stories are impactful. I think folks are often ashamed, embarrassed or feel that their stories don’t matter, but they do. Some of the stories that have been personal experiences have helped people or inspired them. I feel people can connect to an artwork that has a story to it rather than just based on aesthetics. Other journey impacts are to do research and get connected to the outdoors. These areas all have assisted me in my practice and still use. The best course of action that are early in their journey is to offer suggestion of journaling and documenting your ideas and never throw any of your artworks away, because those works can lead to other ideas.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
Again, sharing stories are inspirational, I love to read books, so it is not just “what book” but books for me. The books I have been referencing, as of late, have been Think Indigenous by Doug Good Feather, Tending the Wild by M. Kat Anderson along with Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Think Indigenous reminds me to be a good future ancestor thinking of the future seven generations that will come and how my actions can impact them. Tending the Wild reminds me of the abundance of Earth natural resources, to care for and manage my actions while I am physically here and Braiding Sweetgrass reminds me of the reciprocal relationship between myself and the land, to be kind and care for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meryoung.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngmer/
Image Credits
Mer Young
