Ashley Lukashevsky
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH LOVEIS WISE
⤏ PHOTOS BY RIKKÍ WRIGHT | STYLING BY FAYE ORLOVE
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2019
Ashley Lukashevsky has collaborated with Refinery29, Time’s Up, ACLU, REI, ATTN, Planned Parenthood, Penguin Randomhouse, and The New York Times just to name a few. Some of you may have found your way to witnessing Ashley’s illustrations through her iconic We Rise LA campaign this year, which was amplified around the city everywhere from billboards and buses to a huge mural at LAX. With messages of strength and bravery, it’s hard not to stop and take a moment to breathe in her powerful work. Like some of you, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of discovering Ashley’s work a few years back through Instagram and it was, in fact, how we became friends! I was instantly attracted to her boldness in color, representation of all bodies, and calls to action. Ashley provides healing through her work and always has a timely way of channeling a message that the collective needs to hear. Ashley illustrates everything from climate change, social justice, and education to mental health, immigration reform, and political awareness. I had the opportunity to chat with her about what inspires her, and what she hopes to do next.
LOVEIS: I appreciate how you’re able to weave in messages that we all are able to connect with and how you beautifully communicate them visually! What’s your illustrative origin story and what brought you to working this way?
ASHLEY: I actually started drawing with my mom when I was really young. She is so naturally gifted and would sit down and doodle with me. Throughout my childhood, I was always crafting my own storylines and imaginary worlds in my sketchbooks. At the end of college, after choosing not to study art, I finally had the realization that I could use visual communication to amplify the messages that I believed in. I felt like my art didn’t have a purpose before that, and then things started to make sense. It took me a while to realize it, but then I did. And it changed everything. I realized that I had the power to translate messages around racial justice, immigration, LGBTQIA+ rights, and mental health through my artwork.
L: What are three things you love?
A: Being underwater in the Pacific Ocean, cinnamon rolls, the Garden State Soundtrack.
L: What are your sun, moon, and rising signs? Do you relate to them?
A: Taurus sun! Fuck me up with some blankets, warm tea, and candles. Leo moon — compliment me on my outfit and laugh at my jokes. Gemini rising, watch out!
L: Musically, what’s on your playlist right now?
A: It’s cold out, so I’ve been listening to a lot of mellow music. Jay Som, H.E.R., Tei Shi, Japanese Breakfast, Snail Mail, King Princess, SASAMI. Also, I just like to put on classical jazz. It transports me to a different place.
L: What artists are you inspired by?
A: You! You’re my favorite [laughs]. I follow so many artists who excite me. Right now I can’t stop obsessing over Min Heo (@minstudio_), Cory Feder (@coryfeder), Sarula Bao (@bao_haus). I am always inspired by the groundbreaking work of Emory Douglas and Jenny Holzer.
L: Where do you usually draw inspiration from?
A: Lots of places. I’m really inspired by nature, plants, people around me. I also draw a lot of inspiration from online sources: art I find on Instagram, Pinterest, design blogs like It’s Nice That.
L: Your work explores various forms of activism in body positivity, social justice, and protecting communities. What do you feel is the underlying message that you want to convey through your work?
A: I feel like the underlying message is that we aren’t alone. It can feel really isolating to be in a social/political system that targets us, and the people that we love, but my work strives to make us feel a little bit more hopeful and connected to each other.
“I feel like the underlying message is that we aren’t alone.”
L: In a time of so much pain and uncertainty, what brings you joy?
A: Music, deep belly laughter, learning new things, being in nature, my medication. It can be hard to tap into that joy, but I think I’m getting better at it.
L: As someone who is consistently working hard as an activist and artist, how are you able to maintain balance in your personal/work life?
A: For me, it’s in being gentler with myself and reminding myself of that constantly. It’s also been really nice to make my home a really loving and relaxing place. It’s important to have a place that you feel safe and cozy to recharge in. It’s also very crucial for my mental health to be physically active. Going to yoga and going on long walks around the reservoir help to ground me and get out of my head.
L: What are three goals that you want to see for your work and your future?
A: Omg mom, stop [laughs]. But I really want to learn to teach workshops to be able to skillshare and help others tap into their creativity and self expression. I want to create more public artwork, and figure out how to navigate the divide between social justice work and commercial work more smoothly.
L: You and I have recently discussed the importance of speaking up to brands about your values and keeping your integrity sacred! What’s your policy in regards to doing client-based work? Do you have any advice to any artists who may feel fearful about this?
A: We have been talking about this a lot lately, and I’m getting so much better at saying “No,” and being transparent about my no’s. It’s really about seeing yourself in a position of power when a client approaches you — a position that allows you room for integrity and morality in all of your decisions. When I don’t support a company’s labor practices or supply chain decisions, I want to make it known. I don’t want to create work, or be the face of a company that is basically using me in order to disguise where their products are coming from. I also acknowledge that it’s a privilege to be able to afford to turn down work. A few years ago, these decisions would be much, much harder.
L: In an interview with Working Not Working, you spoke beautifully about doing discounted and pro bono work with grassroots organizations. Can you talk more about how connecting with these communities help to inform the work that you do?
A: Absolutely. I want my work to be meaningful and amplify the work on the ground that QTPOC, immigrants, refugees, and incarcerated people are doing every day. People living the realities of being marginalized tell their stories better than anyone else can. For me, I want to be informed directly by those with these lived experiences if they aren’t my own.
L: You are currently a Civic Media Fellow at your alma mater, USC, what are you currently learning about and discovering in your own creative process while being back in an institutional space?
A: I’m learning to say no to things that I don’t actually want to take on, so that’s a big, big thing. I’m also learning that I need more time and space to experiment with my creative process, and that a lot of that work is thinking about the way that I look at design and art. I’m really interested in learning about design justice work and artwork as speculative fiction.
L: What keeps you motivated?
A: The feeling of learning and growing. You know that feeling that your brain is stretching? That.
L: You’ve done an immense amount of extraordinary work in your career: buses, billboards, murals, a children’s book, a solo exhibition. What should we expect next from you in 2020?
A: Thank you friend! Expect a lot of art around the District Attorney election. It’s the same time as the Presidential. We need to get rid of DA Jackie Lacey — she is a pawn of the prison industrial complex — and I’ll be creating a lot of art about envisioning a future beyond incarceration.
L: Lastly, if you could tell your 18 year old self anything what would it be?
A: Stop sleeping with bullshit white cis men. It’s a waste of energy. You’re queer, you’re an artist, you’re so special — please go and figure that out.
⤏ BUY THE PRINT EDITION OF JR HI THE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 008 HERE.
⤏ LOVEIS WISE IS AN ILLUSTRATOR, DESIGNER, AND CAPRICORN. BASED IN LOS ANGELES, LOVEIS IS ORIGINALLY FROM WASHINGTON, DC AND PHILADELPHIA. THEIR WORK SPEAKS TO THEMES OF JOY, MENTAL HEALTH, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE INTERSECTIONS OF QUEER & BLACK CULTURE. LOVEIS HAS WORKED WITH CLIENTS SUCH AS GOOGLE, APPLE, NPR, CARTOON NETWORK, THE NEW YORKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES, AND INSTAGRAM.