Ashley Barrow
// biography //
My name is Ashey Barrow, I'm an artist from Savannah, GA and a Sequential Art major at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
My minors are art history and creative writing.
I began painting when I was eight years old, and after putting the paintbrushes in storage for a few years, I've rediscovered my love for painting natural landscapes and portraits. I also draw comics, cosplay, and write short stories. I enjoy gaming, fashion, mythology, nature, and I run a poplular blog for Magic: the Gathering.
Although most of my professional work has been private commissions, my art has been displayed in the Ritz Theater in Brunswick, GA and the SCAD Foundations Studies art show in Savannah, GA.
So what's this all about?
In addition to being an artist, I'm also a lesbian. I have close personal connections to members of the feminist and LGBT activism community and I've studied this on my own, but more than that, it's my personal experiences that have given me the most insight.
I hope that I can use my art and storytelling to make a positive impact on the world, even if it's in a small way.
Diversity in media is very important to me, and it's effects are something I've been studying for a few years now. Fantasy in particular often lacks a realistic amount of diversity in regards to gender, sexuality, race, and appearance, and more often than not it only presents a eurocentric, male, and heterosexual narrative.
More and more recently I'm seeing media that portrays "minority" groups in a positive light, but still there exists eurocentric, white-washed stories, and people like me are considered inappropriate and controversial at best and unnatural and dangerous at worst. Still the media propagates the same stereotypes and fuels the misunderstanding, hatred, and oppression, down to the very roots of society, and creative media like film, comics, and gaming are no exception.
My hope is that I can use my art to change this. Art and storytelling has the power to change people's minds, to give people a chance to experience other people's lives and understand them, and to inspire people to accept themselves and others. Media affects people's perception of the world more than they even realize, and improving diversity is taking a step towards ending racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other kinds of hatred.
I am also a cosplayer, writer, and I love to make arts and crafts. You can find my non-painting work including cosplay, writing, and crafts, along with lots of fanart, under the "OTHER WORK" tab.
Other work/ hobbies
