Ashley A. Jones
artbyaaj.com
Artist Statement:
Jones’ artwork questions identity and beauty standards related to the experiences of African-American women and girls. When she creates, she aims to tell a story and give a visual on the complex narrative of what it’s like to be a Black female in America.
Jones sees being an artist as a way of bringing attention to Black issues and topics, such as colorism and other underlying issues concerning beauty, gender bias, and racial oppression. It is through the creative process that she self-enlightens, and in sharing her work, lies the possibility and hope to help other African-American women and girls absolve themselves from their askew perceptions of what beauty looks like in America.
Though her art is mainly portraiture and figurative drawings and paintings, her work takes on social commentary, intergroup discrimination, and societal interpretations of beauty in the African-American community. As with any socially driven content-based art, she is mindful of the challenge of not caricaturing or stereotyping the moment, but rather capturing it in all its glory and its faults.
