CV
Ashley Martin-Prideaux
Education:
2022: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, California College of the Arts. San Francisco, CA.
Solo Exhibitions:
2023
- Virginia/Jim, Spike’s Coffee and Tea, San Francisco, CA
2022
- Intertwined, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
- The last Test strip, Test Strip Gallery, Oakland, CA
2021
- What we Share, Test Strip Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018
- Abandoned Fort Wayne, Circle Square Salon, Richmond, VA
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2024
- Family Affair, Wave Collective Space, San Francisco, CA
- Long Lost, CCA PLAySPACE Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- Indefinite Hiatus, House on Haight, San Francisco, CA
- A Show For The New Year, House on Haight, San Francisco, CA
2023
- Members, staff, and volunteer show, Harvey Milk Photo Center, San Francisco, CA.
- Best In Show, House on Haight, San Francisco, CA
2022
- Emergence, Martin Lawrence Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
- Art & Pride: Age of A-queer-ius, Harvey milk Photo Center
- The Next Stop, Someday gallery, Oakland, CA
- Alternative processes, Test Strip Gallery, Oakland, CA
- New Beginnings/ The start of something new, House on Haight, San Francisco, CA
2021
- Inside/ Out, Test Strip Gallery, Oakland, CA
2020
- Staff Show, Paul Sack Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Awards & Scholarships:
2022
- Faculty Honors Scholarship, CCA
- All College Honors, CCA
- Jerrold B. Whitney Memorial Scholarship, CCA
- Ciriclio Photography Scholarship, CCA
- Carmen Christensen Scholarship, CCA
- French Scholarship, CCA
2021
- Queen’s of The Castro grant recipient
Artist Talks:
2024
- Family Affair artist talks, Wave Collective Space
2022
- BFA Thesis Conversation, California College of the Arts
2021
- SF Camerawork, San francisco, CA
Work Experience:
- Darkroom Technician/Instructor, Harvey Milk Photo Center (2023-present)
- Photo Lab Technician, Oscar’s Photo Lab (2022)
- Photography Lab Monitor California College of the Arts (2020-2)
- Digital Fine Arts Studio Monitor, California College of the Arts (2021-2)
- Exhibitions Photographer (work study), California College of the Arts (2022)
- Photography Lab Monitor, San Francisco Art Institute (2019-20)
Relevant Projects:
- Co-founder and director of House on Haight DIY gallery (2022-2024)
Publications:
- Lucky Star Magazine Issue #1
- Find Rangers Issue #28 (2024)
- Rewind, Review, Respond Volume 5 (Fall 2022)
Teaching Experience:
- Black and white essentials (intro to darkroom) Harvey Milk Photo Center (winter 2023, spring 2024)
- Intermediate Darkroom Printing Harvey Milk Photo Center (winter 2023, spring 2024)
Artist's Statement
Ashley Martin-Prideaux’s work explores the intimate, often overlooked moments where time, identity, and belonging intersect, with a focus on queer families and experiences that exist beyond traditional norms. Through photography and ceramics, she crafts narratives that reveal the quiet, powerful truths of love, connection, and transformation. Photography, with its inherent tension between the past and present, captures fleeting moments—moments that, when examined closely, reveal the complexity of identity and the ways in which we carve out spaces for ourselves and our families.
At the core of Ashley's practice is a commitment to authenticity. The subjects in her work are not idealized but presented in their raw, unfiltered states—emphasizing the messy, beautiful realities of queer life. These images create space for stories that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant, inviting viewers to see themselves in the experiences of others. By focusing on the intimate and often unspoken aspects of relationships and family life, Ashley highlights how we create meaning and connection outside of traditional structures, finding new ways to belong and be seen.
The use of archives and text plays an essential role in Ashley's approach, adding layers of history, context, and emotion. By pairing contemporary photographs with handwritten text, she bridges the personal and the historical, creating a narrative that feels both timeless and urgent. The act of writing by hand introduces a tactile, human element, underscoring the intimacy of the stories being told. This combination of photography and text invites viewers to engage with memory, identity, and the fluidity of queer experience in a more expansive way.
Ceramics introduces another dimension to the practice, offering a physical, hands-on contrast to the stillness of photography. The act of sculpting with clay—shaping, molding, and transforming the material—mirrors the process of building and reimagining identity and family. Just as photography freezes a moment in time, ceramics embodies transformation, the slow unfolding of something that is both temporary and permanent. The tactile nature of clay adds a layer of presence to the work, making it feel connected to the viewer’s own experience of touch, home, and memory. In this way, ceramics breathes life into the work, grounding the intangible nature of identity in something that is both physical and personal.
Together, photography and ceramics form a dialogue about the ways in which queer people build and inhabit family. Ashley’s work is an invitation to pause, reflect, and find resonance in the quiet, often invisible moments that define our lives. By capturing the complexities of intimacy, identity, and belonging, she offers a perspective that challenges conventional narratives and celebrates the diverse ways in which we love, live, and create families. Ultimately, the work seeks to create a space where time, intimacy, and identity converge—inviting viewers to recognize the universality in experiences that have often been erased.