“Ashy” is an examination of layers, margins, and what it means to exist in an either/or (neither/nor) binary space.

It is a meditation on body and performance. Lotion and ashes. Death and rejuvenation. Black and white.

It is black on white, or white on black.

It is a pun.

It is about my black ashy skin and the process I go through to cover it up. Yet, it is also about wearing the ashes of my people.

It is about internalized racism. Resistance and contradiction. The whitening and blackening of the skin.

Ultimately, it is about history; or rather, the inability to escape history even when it applies to something as seemingly simple as grooming habits.