AustLit

This artist's profile of Jay Younger was developed by Carol Masel during 2014 at The University of Queensland as a part of the Visual Arts Curating and Writing course, convened by Dr Allison Holland.

Birth Date, place:

1960, Muttaburra, Queensland

Death Date, place:

Living Artist

Biography:

Jay Younger is a Brisbane-based artist, public art curator and lecturer with more than thirty years of artistic practice in Queensland since the mid 1980s. her artistic investigation of the body, gender, socio-political context and space is evidenced through photography, performance, multimedia, sculpture, public art and site-specific installation. Her ideological intentions and strong socio-political consciousness provides a central motivation for much of her artwork as she explores human behaviour, feminism and socio-political agendas.

Overview of Career:

Underpinned by her dynamic creative practice and her collaborative integrated inter-disciplinary approach, Younger has undertaken significant public art projects within the State Government, Local Government and corporate sectors. Using curatorial approaches which integrate art and architecture practice, she has completed seven permanent public art curatorial projects in artistic (e.g., Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art), judicial (e.g., Brisbane Magistrates Courts); Queen Elizabeth ii Courts of Law), educational (e.g., Yeronga TAFE) and parkland leisure (e.g., Brisbane Powerhouse and Powerhouse Park) contexts. Younger is currently designing a large scale sculptural screen for the Queensland performing Arts Complex.

She has been awarded Australia Council artist's residencies in new York (1988), Florence (1990) and Manila (1996). In 1993, an Arts Queensland Creative Fellowship award enabled Younger to experiment with installation practice. This year of artistic research led to 'Gormandizor' (in 'The Nature of Space' exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane) and three solo exhibitions at Omniscient Gallery (Brisbane). ('The Alarming Spell of hesitation', 'The Discipline of Persuasion and Convalescence' and 'Escape from the Empty Disco'). A survey exhibition of Younger's works (from 1987 to 2002) entitled 'Glare' was held at The University of Queensland Art Museum in December 2002 and a significant monograph on her practice was published at that time. her artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally (including in The Philippines, Italy, Germany, China, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam) and are held in national and state collections including the Australian National Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art.

Younger's formal art qualifications include a Diploma of Arts (Creative), A Diploma of Adult and Vocational Education, a Graduate Diploma in Visual Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy (2011, UNSW). Her doctoral studies focused on art in public places within the context of the Queensland Government's Art Built-in policy. Using a comparative contextual analysis (with case study examples from the Brisbane Powerhouse and Powerhouse Park, the Brisbane Magistrate's Court, and the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art) to analyse the philosophies, practical considerations, and expectations of public art, Younger's research explored how curatorial methodologies could support critically engaged permanent public art in Queensland. Associate professor Jay Younger is a lecturer and programme convenor for photography at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Queensland.

Artist Statement:

'The Context of being a woman, an artist and a Queenslander has most often fuelled the agendas in my practices. In earlier work there is very much a feminist concern of trying to understand how the female subject occupies space, her position and how she is held and contained or enabled to move. Each project has distinct aims within critical practice thereby sidestepping stylistic coherence with a diverse range of strategies and visual languages employed to engage with the experiment at hand. Behaviour is a key curiosity whether human or material. 'The Spindoctors Mirage' experiments with smoke as an uncontrollable material that takes form, literally, depending in which way the wind blows, while in 'Trance of the Swanky Lump' documentary footage of expressions of women customers shopping for diamonds is projected with a choatic crowd of 60 motorised bump 'n' go pink stilettos. Generally the work, whether it takes the form as photography or installation, forms a hypothetical scenario. Polemic synthesis as a notion of positing different viewpoints in tension between a matrix of oppositional forces is my chosen vehicle for asking questions about the human subject immersed in the conflicting agendas of politicized space.' Younger, J. (2006). Retrieved on 23rd April 2014, from http://www.australianphotographers.org.

Represented:

Queensland College of Art, Griffith University

University of Queensland Art Museum

Institute of Modern Art

Brisbane Festival

Ipswich City Council Art Gallery

Art Built-in

Arts Queensland, Queensland State Government

Australia Council

Collections:

Art Gallery of South Australia

National Gallery of Australia

Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art

Griffith Art Collection, Griffith University, Brisbane

University of Queensland Art Museum, The University of Queensland, Brisbane

University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba

Curated Public Art Projects

2010 - present Queensland performing Arts Complex, Brisbane

2008-2012 Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, Brisbane

2002-2004 Art Built-in, Brisbane Magistrates Court, Brisbane

2001-2002 Art Built-in, Yeronga TAFE, Brisbane

2000-2001 Art Built-in, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art, Brisbane

1998-2001 Art Built-in, Brisbane Powerhouse and Powerhouse park, Brisbane

Solo Exhibitions:

2011 'Logan Hypno Grind', Logan Art Gallery, Logan City Council

2004 'Ulterior', Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney

2002 'Glare', University Art Museum, The University of Queensland, Brisbane

1997 'Trance of the Swanky Lump', Brisbane City Art Gallery, Brisbane; The Australia Centre Gallery, Australian Embassy, Manila, The Philippines

1995 'Big Wig and Charger', Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

Group Exhibitions:

2008 'Depth of Field: Contemporary Photography from The University of Queensland Art Collection', University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane

2002-2003 'Transit Narratives'. Touring Exhibition. Centro per la Culture e le Arti Visive le Venezie, treviso, italy; Auronzo di Cadore Salone Espositivo-Municipio; Queensland College of Art Gallery; Victoria College of the Arts, Tasmanian School of Art.

2000-2001 'Moving Cities: Works by Australian Artists in Berlin'. Australian Embassy, Berlin.

1999 'Under the Skin: Space, Place and Gender in Queensland Photography'. Centre for Contemporary Art, De Montford University, Leicester, UK>

1995 'Out of the Void - Mad and Bad Women'. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Bibliography:

Follent, S. (Ed.). (2002). Jay Younger: Glare. University Art Museum, The University of Queensland: Brisbane.

Helmrich, M.(2003). Mirror-ball Memories: Jay Younger's Glare. Eyeline, 51, 22-25.

Marsh, A. (1997). Forgotten spaces and hysteric poses, performing installations by Jay Younger. Eyeline, 34, 23-27.

Milani, L. (1998). Jay Younger: Trance of the Swanky Lump. Eyeline, 36,45-46.

Younger, J. (2009). After the Courtship is the love lost? The engagement of art and architecture in Queensland's Art Built-in. Public Art Curator, Brisbane Supreme Court and District Court. Retrieved on 29th April 2014 from http://www.qca.gu.edu.au/ACUADS/acuads2009-web/pdf/younger.pdf.

Younger, J.J.A. (2011). Critical;ly engaged permanent Public art in the context of ART Built-in (199902006). Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. Retrieved on 24th April 2014, from http://www.primoa.unsw.edu.au/primo_library/libweb/action/search.

Awards:

2012 President's prize, Australian Institute of Architects

2005 Art and Architecture Award for Brisbane Magistrate's court, Australian Institute of Architects

2002 New Work, Major Grant Round, Arts Queensland, Queensland State Government

1998 Brisbane Festival Grant

1998 Special project grant, Arts Queensland, Queensland State Government

1996 Australia Council Artist Residency in Manila, The Philippines

1993 Arts Queensland Creative Fellowship, Queensland State Government

1991 Premier's Art Encouragement Award, Arts Queensland, Queensland State Government

1990 Australia Council Artist residency in Florence, Italy

1988 Australia Council Peter brown travelling Fellowship to new York, USA

1988 Production Assistance grant, Australian Film Commission

1987 First Prize, McGregor Photography Competition, Toowoomba

Interviews:

Transcribed Interview

Milani, L. (2004). Diving author(ity): Co-evolutions in public places. Evolution, creativity and the visual arts: A woman's perspective. Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, Queensland University of Technology: Brisbane.