World Court

2023. Digital C-Type print. Image: 54 x 81 cm. Framed image: 70 x 97 cm.

The photograph World Court (2023) depicts a top‑down view of the judges’ bench at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, where key trials of international law are presided. The tablecloth’s sumptuous red velvet has retained the traces and impressions of judicial hand gestures, which to Young not only have a painterly quality but also evoke the theatricality and performative force of legal authority. These marks suggest the emotional and bodily impacts of the legal process, and its ability to protect, prevent and punish, while drawing attention to the material surface through which the institution presents and enacts its power.