Ashley Peña (b. 2000) is a Dominican-American artist originally from Maryland, United States, and has lived and worked in New York as an image-maker since 2019. She is currently studying to obtain her Bachelor of Fine Arts at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
Known for being up-close and intimate, Peña uses her lens to document and tell stories through her images. With a primary focus on subjects across the diaspora, she explores what vulnerability looks like privately versus publicly. Her work also centers on exhibiting relationships and love within the community while also communicating the nuances of Black culture for a sense of familiarity and comfort – to have people in her community see themselves within the images and outside of Eurocentric standards of beauty, being seen as worthy, desirable and sacred.
