ASHLEY HAIRSTON DOUGHTY
I am a visual storyteller, explaining personal experiences through verbal and visual language. Much of my practice deals with socio-economic, racial, and gender-based issues, particularly those relating to cultural misconceptions and the development of personal identity. My distinctive perspective has grown through residing in nine different cities throughout my lifetime, mostly in the southeastern, midwestern, and southwestern United States.
Although trained as a graphic designer, my artwork often crosses multiple media, including typography, illustration, writing, fiber and materials, and book arts. I share and encourage such art making as an Assistant Professor of Art at UNLV and through my design business and blog, Design Kettle (designkettle.com). My work is included in the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection in Chicago and has received awards from the Caxton Club, the College Book Arts Association and Arion Press.
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PROCREATION : PUSH + PULL
BOOK
Procreation, Push + Pull, 2019
Letterpress printed on French Poptone 65 lb. cover with folded box made of Japanese printed paper. Type set in 18 pt. Futura.
4.5” x 4.5” x 2.125”. Edition of 40
“Push + Pull” is the first of two projects that embody my current preoccupation with procreation. As a married black woman in her mid-thirties, the next logical step in life — according to societal and cultural precedents — would be to have children. However, there are several issues that make me question whether this decision would be the right one — for my health, for my career, for my family, for our planet. This particular piece is a flexagon structure that represents the never-ending loop of pros and cons I often weigh within this particular topic. As the viewer follows one of the six tetrahedrons through four rotations, the following sentences are formed:
• YOU’LL GET BIGGER BOOBS.
• WE DON’T NEED MORE.
• OUR MOMS WOULD HELP.
• DAD WANTED GRAND BABIES.
• IT MIGHT BE FUN.
• BUT YOU COULD DIE.
