How relocating to Pittsburgh helped Sarah Huny Young elevate an artistic practice that documents Black women and LGBTGQ+ communities
By Angela Bronner
Sara Huny Young is an up-and-coming visual artist who documents the richness of Black skin through portraiture. Her photography mostly chronicles women and LGBTQ+ folks in lush portraiture. Young’s use of light and color takes the viewer to another dimension. The photos are sumptuous, rich-bitch-filled, and packed with an obvious love for her subjects.
Young focuses on creating altars corresponding to her portraiture. She combines the mediums of installation, sculpture, and portraiture. This was evident in her artwork that was displayed at the prestigious art fair, Art Basel Miami in December 2022. Although Young was unable to attend and therefore couldn’t install the altar, she says she is more than thrilled to have Basel on her art resume.
As I interviewed Young, I wanted to focus on the Black community of Pittsburgh as a site that interacts with and informs her art. She says that Western Pennsylvania is a place she always comes back to.
“I spent summers here with my grandmother. It’s always been a home base. I’ve always had this accent,” she says. “I call Pittsburgh very much a small town – not necessarily the size but the way it functions. I think that was something that I recognized in my parents. Pittsburgh is so proud [and] Black Pittsburgh in particular. They’re proud of where they are and it’s all about making Pittsburgh better. I want to further this work.”
BlackPittsburgh.com sat down with Young and discussed the City of Champions and how she became one after moving here.
How has Pittsburgh informed your art?
I [now] describe myself as an artist. Not just career-wise, but it just fuels my life in general – with the creation of things. I’m a creator of visual art. I’m a creator of music experiences. Because they serve the same purpose, which is to put the people who have been excluded and marginalized and to center them.
(Left) Abolition is Possible: March for Juneteenth 2020. (Right) Young’s “Legacy” in the 2021 Space Gallery Exhibit “We Are the Global Majority.” Photo Credit: Sarah Huny Young
Were you born and raised here?
I’m from NYC. One of the reasons I decided to move to Pittsburgh is that my mom is from Pittsburgh and moved back when I was in college. I felt like I would be happier. I had a really great job, great friends [and] still do have great friends in New York, but I just needed something else. My cousin Damon Young (who’s a writer out here) got a grant. I researched that grant and I realized there was just so much funding for artists here. So that was really a big motivating factor. I just felt like it would be an opportunity to pivot in my career because I was working in tech as a web developer and a creative director for Viacom. Indeed, moving out here has been the right move.
You have been a Pittsburgh resident for about nine years now. How was the adjustment for you?
I spent the first year and a half being miserable. I started organically meeting people in the art scene and I became really involved with the music scene as well. I just realized a really incredible opportunity to not only receive funding as an artist but to get involved in curating events as well. I know that would not have happened if I stayed in New York. I would have stayed in tech because I was making really good money. And I’m also a DJ and know a ton of DJs in New York because almost everybody is a DJ or a writer or an actor. Those are the top three. It’s just because it is quote-unquote slower out here. I can take the time to hone these things that were hobbies and turn them into my profession. Whenever someone finds out I’m from New York City and asks, “why did you move,” I tell them artist funding. It’s not perfect. Pittsburgh is a tough city for Black women, in particular. Yet, there are so many incredible Black women here. The change is happening.
What fuels your work?
My work is fueled by the things I want to see. I create events that are structured around Black womanhood, Black femme hood and being a Black queer person in the US It doesn’t come natural for us to put ourselves first. It’s kind of self-serving but, yes, I frame everything around other people.
Does art give your life purpose?
It does. Along with being a mother, art gives my life purpose. I’ve suffered from anxiety and depression since my father passed away 14 years ago and, in more recent years, ADHD too. Art has always been a part of my life, but my mental health and survival now deeply relies on having an art practice. Whenever I do feel like I’m spiraling down the drain, I remember that I have the ability to create. I created life, I create archives of life, and I can also create joy and a life worth living.
Young’s portraits explore Black womanhood and queer personhood: (left) “Jay” and (right) “Christian.” Photo Credit: Sarah Huny Young
What are some of the barriers to making your art?
Along with having depression, I’m ridiculously ambitious. And having a hyper-focus on things is also really helpful. One thing I’m always asked is: how are you good at so many things? Oh, that’s just ADHD…. I’m just able to hyperfocus on things when I work on them….. and other things suffer. So, I’m always working in tandem with my mental health challenges.
Along with having depression, I’m ridiculously ambitious. And having a hyper-focus on things is also really helpful. One thing I’m always asked is: how are you good at so many things? Oh, that’s just ADHD…. I’m just able to hyperfocus on things when I work on them….. and other things suffer. So, I’m always working in tandem with my mental health challenges.
What’s next for you?
I would love the opportunity to have a solo exhibition. I’m going to make it happen this year. And just continuing to do the things well that make me happy and not really trying to super-duper control everything and letting things flow. That’s mad corny, but it works… just let shit happen. Don’t be so controlling; don’t be so hyper-focused on this one particular outcome. Just enjoy the ride.
To purchase some of Young’s work, go here.
Angela Bronner is a Harlem-based writer.