Ashley McDowell Clark

My work is about what I know. I know what it’s like to feel shameful

just trying to walk to work. I know what it feels like to be abused by someone I

loved who I thought loved me. I know what it’s like to be made to believe I’m

not good enough. I know what it’s like to feel violated. I know these emotions

aren’t right, and I also know that I can’t possibly be alone in experiencing this

repression as a woman. I also know I shouldn’t be the only one fighting it.

Through imagery and text I hope to express a universal experience

of all women in our contemporary society and around the world, and to

reflect upon that shared awareness of these injustices by creating work that

comments on women as the “other” in the world. Women are labeled as less

than men, in how they are approached, in how they are treated professionally

and in relationships, and because of this, women face injustices, closed

mindedness, as well as physical and emotional abuse. Women are forced

to live between two roles: Victim and Survivor. In some ways we are broken

and vulnerable, but we grow from our experiences and become strong,

independent, and ready to speak for ourselves.

The photographs reflect the anger, sadness, shame, and strength

of women living in a civilization that sometimes fails to treat them as equal

human beings. They stand in their under garments, vulnerable to the

unspoken laws that label them targets. These images are accompanied by a

collection of experiences, positive and negative, unique to women, showing

the both the obstacles we overcome, and the strength this requires. I hope

that this work serves as a reminder that even though women have come a

long way in their fight for equal rights, the fight to be treated with respect and

decency, the same respect and decency a man would expect from his fellow

man, is far from over.

                                                           -Ashley McDowell Clark