Expression of You - The Divine Feminine

  • Dates
    2010 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Portrait, Contemporary Issues, Fine Art
  • Locations Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Egypt, Costa Rica, Leeds, City of London, Lancaster

Ashley Karrell is an experienced multi-disciplinary, Filmmaker, Photographer & Artist. A child of the digital revolution, his art work aims to celebrates peoples’ individuality & uniqueness without artistic boundaries, letting their narratives, personalities & truths become the focal point.

Expression of You is a 30 year living art project. Currently in its 7th year, the project has so far documented the ideas, views, aspirations, and self-perceptions of over 250 women and the values that they choose to stand for. This ever-evolving project gives women the opportunity to be seen, and to see themselves, as they wish to be portrayed, working over time with the artist to design and develop their personal themed self-portraits. This body of work is a growing document of the personal interests and self-perceptions of women from around the world over an increasing period of time. Expression of You - The Devine Feminine series is a feminist celebration of the diversity, similarities, power, and subtleties of what it means to be a woman.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Debbie - UK | Fifty years on this earth and l don’t think I’ve ever stopped to seriously consider who l am to any great extent. Well not until this project came along. When the majority of your life has been spent being something to somebody else i.e. a Mother, a partner, a employee, whilst putting others’ concerns before your own, the time to luxuriate in self-discovery is a rare thing...

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Justya - UK | The Inner balance & reunion of two energies. A journey to discover my female and male energy within me, to finally become ONE...

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Bo - UK | Well I got hurt. Hurt so badly that words cannot describe the pain I felt. I needed to see my own pain to able to understand it. I have spent my last 12 years with the man who meant everything to me...

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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La Renie & Louise - Trinidad & Tobago | Today I had to face my insecurities and look for the beauty that is within me. It was a hard journey but at the end of it all I am happy.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Louise - Trinidad & Tobago | Good Hair? I am what the world calls “Black”. Possibly just another ‘typical black girl’ with hard hair that coils thickly and broad hips. I am someone’s daughter, someone’s niece, someone’s cousin, someone’s ex girlfriend, someone’s friend, someone’s enemy, someone’s confidant.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Bo - UK | Full of the thoughts about me trying to kill myself when I found out that S was leaving me. I started to make a dress with 80 grams of crystals that’s hundreds and hundreds of little shiny crystals. Each single one of them had to be ironed on to make this dress look so spectacular. The crystals arrived to my studio the day my husband of 10 years told me he was leaving me... That dress had to be made and I was busy planning my suicide.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Debbie - UK | Through the experience l have been able to see the connections between ‘self’ and why l make the work l do as a visual artist. You’d think this would be obvious but it wasn’t to me. l work on gut instinct and origins of an idea are rarely clear so explaining the work to an audience or potential buyer was difficult. l now feel more confident about my work.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Patrycja - UK | The photo shoot represents a lot of my past experiences, feelings and concepts of self. I had the fear of exposing myself in this project, and all undefined aspects of me. Although this fear did not allow me to come out and express completely, facing it helped me to acknowledge my inner change, to move forward and evolve.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Valentina - Trinidad & Tobago | (As I girl) I used to play pitch, cricket, rounders’ and also with spinning top. My brother showed me how to play spinning top. But my Mother told me I didn’t have time to play. She wanted me to collect the cocoa; that is how we made our wealth – collecting the cocoa. People would come into the village and that is what we would do, we would dance in the cocoa – dance like cocoa girl and we would eat it, sucking it in.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Expression Of You is an experiment. Not a social experiment but a search for the Truth is all our lives. The only divine Truth is that sometimes, what we see and feel can be spoken without words, yet can become reality because it reflects in our own souls. They are not political Truths. They are not religious Truths. They are people’s Truths devoid of any political bias, dogma, or fears.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Nicole - UK | The Phoenix. People are not constant, they are capricious; ever evolving, ever changing with time and circumstances. Such is the significance of my recent permutation, I sense that a part of my former myself has died. Like a phoenix, I have risen from the ashes of death and begun a new life. The old has passed away. I am a new creation.

© Ashey Karrell - Nicole - UK | Waiting for marriage...
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Nicole - UK | Waiting for marriage...

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Jennifer - UK | Upon embarking on this project, I was intrigued at the thought of being able to have photos taken of any situation, setting or theme I wanted. When I actually realised what the project would entail, I was excited. This was an opportunity to show how I thought of my different personalities in my head.

© Ashey Karrell - Chloe - UK | Free me from my skin.
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Chloe - UK | Free me from my skin.

© Ashey Karrell - Roxanne - UK | Me, my baby and my partner
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Roxanne - UK | Me, my baby and my partner

© Ashey Karrell - Shirley - Trinidad & Tobago | 47 Years together and not out.
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Shirley - Trinidad & Tobago | 47 Years together and not out.

© Ashey Karrell - Image from the Expression of You - The Divine Feminine photography project
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Kristina Hillenbrand - UK | The experience of being abandoned or let down by a person you love is like ripping out the piece of your heart that was meant for that person. It is like being left outside in the rain. It is dark, I am drenched to the skin and I can feel the bitter cold in my whole body. Sometimes, you see it coming, but you cannot hide from it. Other times, it comes unexpectedly and hits you even harder.

© Ashey Karrell - Sade & Camille - Trinidad & Tobago | Me and Mother
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Sade & Camille - Trinidad & Tobago | Me and Mother

© Ashey Karrell - Mez - UK | My support for Paris
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Mez - UK | My support for Paris

© Ashey Karrell - Valentina - UK | Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, my point of view about my sexuality in this period of my life
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Valentina - UK | Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, my point of view about my sexuality in this period of my life

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