Artist Overview
Al Young is a multimedia artist and Bachelor of Fine Arts student whose work spans multiple printmaking mediums as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, and collage. Al’s work is informed by their experiences with queerness, disability, and community organizing. Their practice encourages audiences to question social conventions of the body and imagine new ways of caring for each other.
For the McMullen Gallery exhibition, Al will present two sculptural artworks that explore the intersections of disability and caregiving. A multimedia installation about familial care networks titled, “I sit with you, you sit with me,” will be presented alongside a new ceramic sculpture that reimagines the artist’s mother’s back brace through forms found in nature. Al is additionally creating a zine on interdisciplinary collaboration inspired by their 2026 summer artist practicum with the Smartwear project.
Al's recommended resources
- Caregivers Alberta
- Taproot Support Services
- Gibbons, S. (2016). “Our Power to Remodel Civilization”: The Development of Eugenic Feminism in Alberta, 1901-1921. Canadian Bulleting of Medical History
- Muir, L. (2005). Unnatural Selection – eugenics in North America – with Leilani Muir (2005). Parallel Vision Pictures.
- Leason, J., Ryan,C. et al. (2019). Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women. Native Women’s Association of Canada.
- Sinha, M., (2012). Portrait of caregivers. Statistics Canada.
- Research on Aging Policies and Practices. (2021). Caregivers in Alberta: impact of caregiving on well-being. University of Alberta.
- Levine, S. (2026) Dementia Life Expectancy in Nursing Homes vs Home Care. Help Dementia.
- Leason, J., Ryan,C. et al. (2019). Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women. Native Women’s Association of Canada.
- Kilsie, J., Price, R., De Lille, C. (2019). Overcoming the Valley of Death: A Design Innovation Perspective. Design Management Journal Vol 14 Issue 1.
- Spinal Cord Injury Alberta
- MS Society Canada
- Thorson, T, Angus, C, Krassioukov, A. (2025) FashionABLE: A Guide for People Living with a Spinal Cord Injury, Caregivers and Medical Practitioners, Open Style Lab
- Ennett, D. Kroetsch, F. (2025) Crip Trip, Catapult Pictures
- Milbern, S., Burn, P., Morales, A. L., Langstaff, D., Be(ast), N., & Silverberg, C. (2016, September). Skin, tooth, and bone: A Disability Justice Primer. Sins Invalid.
- Piepzna-Samarasinha, L. L. (2018). Care work: Dreaming disability justice. Arsenal Pulp Press.
- Wong, A. (2020). Disability Visibility. Vintage Books & Anchor Books
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