Artist Profile Paige Young
Paige Young, from These Died With You, 2025, Black and white print negative and positive transfers from original images taken from 1850-1960, transferred in the darkroom onto Ilford Black and White Glossy RC Paper, 16″ x 20″ (406 mm x 508 mm).
Young’s tender, darkroom transfers cradle kinship in resilient, shifting clarity.
Artist Statement
Humans hold onto photographs, items, and objects that hold memories or stories of the loved ones who have passed away. We may have no actual connection to the physical person who once held these narratives, yet because the stories were explained to us, or because we have been told they are connected to our family, we keep them. Without these explanations or experiences, items that we find in attics, homes, or spaces that need to be cleaned out would be considered junk and often would be tossed away.
My grandfather passed away in 2024, and when he moved out of his home and into a care center, I acquired many of our family photo albums. Some images were of my family from the 1850s through the early 1900s. These people are strangers to me. While my grandmother was still alive, I decided to take these photographs and ask the story behind them, and she shared with me my grandfather’s lineage and family history. These photographs are more impactful to me now; however, the people still are unknown to me personally.
The more distant these narratives are, the more unclear the stories resonate with me. We assume or hope that our family history includes ‘good’ and ‘decent’ people, but the truth is we will never know. The closer the timeline gets to our time of living, the more we are familiar with the setting, characters in our story, and the situations that came about. I take these founded images and create photographic negative and positive prints before placing them onto a larger sheet in the darkroom. Each sheet is set within a specific decade of time from what was labeled when I found them. The more unfamiliar I am with the images, the more blurry or unfamiliar they are presented to the viewer. Leaving some images that are unknown in negative form, mixed with some images in a positive print give the viewer an insight of how familiar I am with some of these people and stories about them. However, without these handed-down tales or questions I asked, these stories would die with those who were told them last. Without my questions, these stories would die, and without me telling anyone else about them, these stories will end with me.
Artist Biography
Paige Young is a photographer located in the midwest of the United States. Her love with photography began with the connection between psychology and photography. She saw the intimacy between photographer and subject and how images can affect the love and compassion we find for ourselves.
Her commercial work and fine art work revolve around the idea of self-compassion, and tackles ideas of grief, eating disorders, mental health, and representation in communities that are being politically erased. She has owned her own business for more than 15 years, normalizing and representing all forms of love and diversity in her work. Besides equality, storytelling and freezing moments in time are elements that are incredibly important to Paige, especially as she ages.