Artist Statement for Angela Young

Objectified Body Consciousness is a term used to express the experience of viewing one's body, as an object separate from one's self and a discipline to understand the beliefs and behaviors that support this experience. It is an individual’s body-self relationship primarily with the appearance of their body as seen by an outside observer rather than in how the body feels or what the body can do. As an athlete from an early age, I actively participated in high school sports, played ice hockey during my undergraduate career and am currently competing in triathlon events. Despite my accomplishments as an athlete, I, like many young women, have struggled with issues of self-conception and physical appearance while constantly struggling to maintain a body standard that closely approximates an ideal body through a physically active lifestyle.
I see the constant discipline and determination of being an athlete in the same way I feel about being an artist. Both are very self directed, repetitive and meditative forms of creating; both are creating the person I want to be and the parts I want people to see. I see the forms that I display in my artwork as something beautiful. Rather than objectifying the body, I am purposefully examining the parts of the body that people would not normally take the time to fully consider. I willingly objectify my own body but in more universal terms; not immediately identifiable, but recognizable and relatable. My recent work of looking at the body form in its detail has become a way for me to slowly come to terms with what makes me a person as a whole.