Emily Young is one of the most acclaimed living stone sculptors, celebrated for her powerful carvings, which mediate on time, memory, nature and man’s relationship to the earth.

Born in London to a large family of writers and artists, Young was brought up, dividing her time between Italy and the English countryside of Wiltshire, inspired by the historical sights of Stonehenge and Avebury. Young studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art before travelling extensively in the 1960s and 70s to Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, where she studied with the sculptor Robert White.

Lapis Lazuli Girl is one of the finest of Young’s sculptures showcasing her mastery as a carver. Created in the beautiful semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, Young harnesses the medium relishing in the geological faults and veins, which create a wonderful marbled effect, revealing the hidden crystalline structure of the material. The simplicity and directness of the work is most striking, with the subtle features of the female face emanating from the blue stone, which simultaneously reflects and refracts the light.

Her sculptures, carved in stone are not only monumental but imbue a timeless quality. This is seen not only in her choice of stone but in their classical beauty, which at times seems almost devotional. Young described that the notions of time and devotion were important to her work, she explained, ‘So my work is a kind of temple activity now, devotional; when I work a piece of stone, the mineral occlusions of the past are revealed, the layers of sediment unpeeled; I may open in one knock something that took millions of years to form: dusts settling, water dripping, forces pushing, minerals growing - material and geological revelations: the story of time on Earth shows here, sometimes startling, always beautiful’.

Young’s work is held by many private and public collections, with her permanent installations on show at St Paul’s Churchyard and Salisbury Cathedral.