Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson is a writer, entrepreneur, and multidisciplinary artist whose work centers on the Black experience and her identity as a Winston-Salem resident. Working in photography, textiles, and woven masks, Johnson often ventures into topics of Black femininity, southern femininity, and interracial conflicts. Johnson creates performative photographs in which her camera becomes an instrument reflecting internal and external characteristics of Blackness, a theme accentuated by her use of mediums such as flowers, hair and cotton. Her process driven works contain repetitions that evoke a familiarity unique to Black women.

Her work neither imposes nor proposes a solution. It primarily intends to foster a space in which Black women find comfort, while instilling a gentle curiosity in other audiences. Johnson began her practice as a lifestyle photographer for businesses, and was later drawn to more performative forms of art. This change in her practice is a reflection of the changes within herself. She was exploring her own identity, her own Blackness. She grappled with different layers of her identity, such as southern societal expectations that contrasted her own views on being a Black woman. These introspections ultimately inspired the themes of her new works.