Ashley MacLure

Daddy Likes Your Hair Long

mixed media: collage, drawing, Play-Doh, acrylic, ink

2’x2′

2022

I was not allowed to cut my hair. “Daddy and Papa like long hair”, my mother said. I learned to please everyone around me. I never learned to say no; not in high school, not in college. My body does not exist for others. My hair is mine. My body is mine. What messages are we sending to our children through seemingly benign statements? I was more than the length of my hair.

@ashley.maclure

Ashley MacLure

Bone and Paper

Inspired by: Mixteca-Puebla Artist, Tripod Bowl Unknown Artist, English Teapot

stoneware, glaze

12 ” x 12 ” (both bowls)

2022

Bone and Paper My mother’s “safe foods” were meat and chocolate ice cream. It wasn’t until I got older that I heard her vomiting at night in her bedroom. She used newspaper delivery bags– the long skinny ones that hold papers– then tied them in a knot and left them beside her bed filled with whatever she ate that day. I don’t remember the meals, or my mom’s weight, but the feeling of helplessness. Her bones, and the paper bags. These tea bowls are sharp, jagged like bones, inky like newspaper. My mealtime ritual.

@ashley.maclure