About the Author
Jay Youngdahl is a visual artist working in text, collage, photography, and other media, with a practice he calls “participatory action art.” Deeply rooted in the belief that beauty and justice are inseparable, Jay’s work invites viewers to see the world differently—and more humanely.
His creative journey reflects a lifetime of activism and inquiry. Born in St. Louis and raised in Little Rock during the turbulent aftermath of school integration, Jay became involved in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements as a young man. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, organize labor unions, and work as a civil rights attorney in the South and Southwest, where his first legal case involved freeing migrant farm workers held in slavery.
Jay later pursued academic study, earning a Master of Divinity from Harvard and serving as a Fellow in Ethics and Responsible Investment. His lifelong writing includes poetry, activist journalism, a long-running column in the East Bay Express, and the book Working on the Railroad, Walking in Beauty (2011), which explores the lives of Navajo railroad workers in the American Southwest.
Today, Jay brings this arc of justice, reflection, and storytelling into his visual art practice.
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