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Boston-based artist Anthony Young talks about the VIP prints he created for the Summer Party, his process during the pandemic, and Black Lives Matter.

You considered four pieces for this year’s Summer Party VIP print. Tell us about those prints and how you and Liz Munsell, Lorraine and Alan Bressler Curator of Contemporary Art, selected which would be completed for the Summer Party. 

For the VIP Summer Party print I wanted to create unique pieces that were specifically made for the Summer Party, instead of creating a print based off previous work. I’ve been working on two series of work, titled They Have Names and When the Stars Begin to Fall. In They Have Names, I created three collaged portraits memorializing Black trans lives who were murdered in 2019 alone. The fourth piece, in the When the Stars Begin to Fall series, was inspired by the spiritual “My Lord, What a Morning.” From these works, Liz Munsell and I selected Say Their Names VI: Paris Cameron 20, May 25, 2019, Layleen Xtravaganza 27, June 7, 2019, Brooklyn Lindsey 32, June 25, 2019, Tracy Single 22, July 30, 2019, Bee Love Slater 23, September 4, 2019, Breonna Be’Be Hill 30, October 14, 2019 as the VIP print.

Have the recent stay-at-home orders changed how you work? Will there be a new focus on different mediums or topics?

The stay-at-home order hasn’t changed too much of my process, but it’s made it difficult in some cases to get materials. With most of the stores offering only curbside pickup or delivery, I have to plan what materials I may need and take into consideration the time it will take to receive them. During the quarantine, I was visiting family in West Virginia and mostly focused on drawing and collage due to not having a lot of my painting materials.

Earlier this year, the Boston Globe highlighted your work and methods for illustrating racism’s human toll. With the current protests against racial injustice spotlighting systemic racism throughout the country, will you approach your methods differently? 

As an artist, I’m constantly looking for new ways and methods to communicate my ideas, so it would only be natural for me to explore new approaches and mediums. Moving forward I have plans to develop a community-based series of workshops.

What projects are you currently working on, and have current events altered or influenced your creative direction?

Currently I’m working on paintings in the They Have Names series. I think the protests and continuous violence against Black bodies that are still happening full force have pushed me to really recommit and thoughtfully develop this body of work. The protests have also made me think about the variety of Black lives that are lost, and how when I say “Black Lives Matter,” I mean all Black lives.