Jennella Young

Jennella Young is an artist and educator based in Brooklyn, specializing in painting, photography, mixed media, and book art. She is deeply committed to educational equity and embedding arts, cultural, and community knowledge into the everyday experiences of the young people she works with. As a full-time administrator at an education non-profit, she likes to create art in found moments with supplies she can carry around in her purse (it’s a pretty big purse). 

The main subject of Young’s work is portraiture, primarily of Black and Brown women from archival photos. Painting images of women found throughout time allows her to create a meditative space and portal to bring these women’s forgotten or dismissed stories back into our plane of existence. Young’s art-making process consists of watercolor, acrylic, ink, pastel, bookmaking, and journaling. 

Jennella holds a BA in Psychology from Lehigh University, an MA in Counseling Psychology from New York University, and has completed advanced graduate work in Art History and Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute. She is a dynamic artist who combines her extensive academic background with a vibrant creative spirit. Throughout her career, she has furthered her artistic practice at institutions such as the School for Visual Arts, Educational Alliance Art School, Center for Book Arts, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Venezia, and Bethany Arts Community. 

Her artistic journey has involved collaborations with the Apollo Theater Oral History Project, New York Historical Society, Guggenheim Museum, Weeksville Heritage Society, and the Laundromat Project.