Micca Young on Faith, 
Art, and Sexuality

Micca Young is a Taiwanese Australian artist I met at a special bunny birthday party. In 2021, she launched her first solo art exhibition in Perth, showcasing over 24 paintings and marking the debut of her career. She invited me to her apartment, where we talked about art, stripping, and the church — walls adorned with gold-framed paintings and a panoramic view overlooking Docklands.

Van: I’ve watched all of your YouTube videos before coming here. I can definitely see you becoming a Youtuber.
Micca: What! I was thinking of deleting the videosVan: Why?Micca: I can be very self-critical. I love talking and sharing things. But then I realised I don’t like the idea of having so much of myself out on the internet. If I want people to hear me talk or see my personality I can just do it through reels or eventually do more interviews. I don’t really need to have a whole youtube channel and be known as a youtuber.   Van: When you look back at the videos, do you think “wow this is not me at all” 
Micca: I don’t watch them! It’s frustrating, because I really want to present myself authentically. But whenever I look back, I start questioning: Is this really me? Are people actually seeing the real me?

Van: This is surprising because, from the impression I get from your YouTube videos and the way you carry yourself in conversations, you seem more like, I don’t care what people think, I’ll just be me. Micca: In the moment, yes. For the first week after I uploaded the videos, I’m like, hell yeah, I ate that shit up. After a week, I don’t want to watch them again. I start cringing at myself. I build it up in my head to be way worse than it actually is.
Van: I feel the same. I think it’s because we grow and we develop new perspectives. 
Micca: That’s exactly it! You grow and you’re like, oh wait, maybe this isn’t me anymore. And that separation between who I was in the video and who I am now just creates even more space for self-doubt to creep in.
Van: Did you feel that when preparing your first exhibition?Micca: Nope. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to sell a certain number of tickets or get a huge crowd. I was more focused on the process of putting it together rather than the result. And that’s where the joy came from for me.
Van: When you paint, do you start with a clear image or idea in your mind, or do you let the process guide you as you go?Micca: I always have a vision of what I want to paint, maybe 90% of it, but it’s blurry. Then, as I paint, the details start to come through. 
Van: One thing I really love about your paintings is how they feel both real and unreal at the same time. They’re real in the way they capture what it feels like to experience you: so full of life and layered, like your ever-yapping spirit. But they’re also unreal, almost like a form of fantasy or escape. Do you think your painting reflects your inner world, or is it a world you’re inventing, one you wish existed?Micca: It’s a world I built to escape. I want it to feel unpredictable and exciting, just like the life I try to create for myself. I love seeking out experiences that are out of the ordinary, always chasing that sense of obscurity.Van: I can understand that. 
Micca: What stimulates my brain the most is the stuff that most people can't comprehend. There’s so much repetition in this world that it makes everything feel so mundane.

Van: Look out of the mirror and look at this painting. Why can’t the sky be pink? 
Micca: Right? Imagine if we lived in a world where all the buildings were shades of pastel. Would more people be more interesting? Maybe the sky should change colour every day.


Read the full conversation in print. ISSUE 02