Ashley Armitage is a photographer based in Seattle whose images communicate riot grrrl attitudes to millennial minds. Using a Pentax Asahi, Armitage captures intimate moments highlighted with soft pallets and strong personalities. Last week we chatted with Ashley about her start in photography and her views on the Girlhood Movement. Check it out below.
When did you start taking photos? What was your first camera and what did you like to photograph?
In middle school I would sneak away with my mom’s Nokia phone. I’d take so many selfies and so many pictures of my cats.
In a generation overwhelmed by image why do you think images of “girlhood” are important to record?
As a teenager, everywhere I looked teenage girls were either stereotyped or objectified. I couldn’t relate to any of the imagery I saw so I started to create my own images of what my girlhood was (is) like. I wanted to reclaim these images as my own and I also wanted to produce work that other girls who are growing up can look to and maybe not feel as pressured to be, act, or look one way.
What made you want to start taking photos with the feminist perspective?
I think that as a girl, it’s impossible to not make feminist work.
What separates you from other feminist photographers like Petra Collins, Dafy Hagai, and Mayan Toledano? Do you think it is important to separate yourself -or- do you think that it’s important to see yourself in a similar light as others?
I love their work. I see us all a part of one movement. It’s so important for minorities to team up. Feminist self-representing and identity-reclamation has been going on since the ’60s; think Cindy Sherman, Eleanor Carucci, Hannah Wilke. But now, it’s been taken to a new level. Thanks to the internet, we all have access to a platform. We can all speak out. Right now there are so many girls and women getting out there, creating their own imagery, and representing themselves as they want to be seen. I think that’s the movement that Petra Collins, Dafy Hagai, Mayan Toledano, and I are all a part of.
When taking photos do you work alone or with others? How do you go about creating a vision for your work?
I always work with friends! Whenever I try doing self portrait stuff it ends up a disaster. I am so inspired by my friends. My work would be nothing without them – it’s a total collaboration. In my work, I like to take clichés (like girls talking on the phone, painting nails, gossiping, applying makeup) and then reclaim them as my own. I like to play around with hyper-femininity in a subversive way. Sometimes I think my images appear cliché from afar but then upon closer inspection the girls will have armpit hair or pubic hair or period stained underwear.
How do you meet your models and how do their personalities affect your photography?
Sometimes I just use my friends, and sometimes I meet them through Facebook or other social media (and then we quickly become friends). Their personalities absolutely affect my photos. I’ve realized that modeling is a lot like acting, and if I know one of my friends will be especially good at a certain “role” I’m trying to portray, I’ll ask them to model.
What is your next project? Can you tell us what to expect?
My friend and I are creating a teenage girl bedroom installation this spring and it’s going to be both a space as well as a performance piece.
All photos courtesy of Ashley Armitage. Interview by Hafalia Yackel.
Find Ashley online at @ladyist <3
