ASHLEY LONGSHORE ANSWERS THE KITTEN LIFE QUESTIONNAIRE
“Major Poontang Does Not Fly Commercial”
“Jesus Wants You To Have A Birkin Bag”
“Crying In Chanel Isn’t Very Beyoncé”
“Always Ask For More”
Ashley Longshore is a modern, badass feminist.
If the blinged-out Veuve bottles and life-sized self portrait of her dressed as Wonder Woman doesn’t convince you, then Longshore herself, in a gold sequinned “Golden Shower” bomber jacket at the recent Women’s March on Washington protest is sure to. Flanked by five of her soul-sisters all toting bedazzled Uterus signs, Ashley is no joke when it comes to empowerment - female or otherwise. She’s a total kitten: embodying what it means to be a strong, independent woman in 2017, but most of all, what it means to be free.
Who the Fuck is Ashley Longshore?
Longshore was born in Alabama, taught herself to paint during her time studying English literature at the University of Montana and is now based out of New Orleans. Her protest signs and the powerful voice she brought to the Women's March was recently featured by Global Citizen, The Daily Dot and Robert Reich. Her art has been featured in Vogue, Fast Company Magazine, Forbes, and Elle, who dubbed her “New Orleans’ Most Badass Artist.”
We stumbled upon Ashley’s work, struck by her pop-art-tastic images of Audrey Hepburn, Anna Wintour, Lil’ Wayne, and stuck around to follow her progressive and epic career as it’s evolved from trendsetter to the voice of kittens everywhere. Often compared to Andy Warhol, Longshore is at the forefront of a new wave of digital marketing and art selling. She paints, designs and creates whatever the fuck she wants, so long as it aligns with the message of love and personal power she wants to see more of in the world. And she’s good at what she does. She’s really, really good.
The collection she showcased in the form of protest signs at the Women’s March – the aptly titled “Come Inside” series – is a five-piece collection of fan-fucking-tastic collages portraying the female YOUterus in all its glory, designed by Ashley Longshore’s in-house graphic designer, Nina Waring. My personal favourite of the collection places a shimmering disco ball front and centre as the uterus itself, with popping champagne bottles serving as fallopian tubes. Never before have I seen something so aligned with what I imagine the essence of my femininity to look like! Disco balls! Champagne! Big-ass diamonds! Girl power!
“YOU are everything you have ever needed! Do not be crippled by fear and self doubt. Learn to love YOU and all the rest will follow. Confidence happens when there is self acceptance. And then there is a fire that will burn deep inside of you that will make you fearless to walk into any situation. Your fine ass is gonna smash your goals and love madly, wildly and deeply. I fucking love you. Now YOU love YOU!!!”
We’re honoured to feature her work and answers to The Kitten Life Questionnaire for our equally awesome and outspoken readers.
You can check out more of Ashley’s art on her website and online store. And then run! don’t walk, to go follow her on the Instagrams and Facebooks.
The Kitten Life Questionnaire by Ashley Longshore
1. What is your present state of mind?
A steam train at full fucking speed going up the side of a damn mountain. I’m filled with so much inertia and creative excitement because I know there will never be enough time in my life to get everything done I need to do, thereby I’m just pushing forward as fast as I can.
2. What’s your sign?
I am a Leo. A raging fucking Leo. Lioness with a giant mane. Rawr!
3. What is your favourite vice?
I really like pinot noir. I like insane wildness, unpredictability. I like being in the moment. I like five hour lunches and lots of drama on the table. I like to order every dessert. I like to not order one bottle of wine but two just in case. I like excess. I like things big and excessive.
4. Puppies or kittens?
Puppies. I’m allergic to kittens.
5. What is your most prized possession?
Probably my easel. My paintbrushes. My canvas. I mean, I could be broke as hell and if I had those things then I could be happy no matter where I am.
6. If you could be any plant what would you be?
A passion fruit vine.
7. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Laying in my bed by myself with five movies I haven’t seen, two bottles of red wine, some lube and a vibrator with a fresh pack of 8 DD batteries.
No, but really, there would obviously be nachos too.
8. What’s the first thing you would buy if you moved into a new space?
I’ve always loved the artist Alice Neel so much. I would love to have one of her paintings. I think she’s just absolutely incredible. When I first started painting I was so inspired by her work, and the colour and her portraiture. So I would buy the Alice Neel painting when she did a portrait of herself as, like, a 75 year old woman in bondage, with the nipple clamps and stuff. That’s probably my favourite painting ever.
9. What is your favourite colour?
Red
10. If you could teleport at exactly this moment, where would you go?
I would go to this beautiful place in Jaipur, India and I would go right when the sun was setting. It was this place where there were hundreds and hundreds of peacocks that were roosting at sunset. The sky was pink-orange and there were these peacocks flying with their big massive tails and these beautiful people draping marigold necklaces all around me. There was so much beauty that it literally levelled me and made me sob. It’s one of my favourite places I’ve ever been to.
11. What’s your recurring dream/nightmare?
I always have dreams about gigantic moths. Huge moths. Moths where their bodies are the size of footballs and their wings are very colourful and I pick them up and I can hold them and I can feel the heat inside of them.
I also have these dreams where there are snakes all around my feet and I pick them up and I snap their heads off.
12. What piece of art has made an impression on you?
The first piece of art that really moved me emotionally, that I had always studied, was from the first time I went to the MoMA and saw Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. I was very young but it literally brought me to tears. It absolutely brought me to tears. It made me feel something I had never really felt before. Growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, I mean, obviously that isn't the cultural mecca of the world, so when I started to really get out and travel and see things on my own I realized how powerful that was, and that was even before I had decided that being an artist was my future. I was touched so deeply by the vision of that, so that was a really big moment for me.
13. What’s the most romantic experience you’ve had?
Probably dry humping. Sneaking out of my house and dry humping multiple dudes. Making out… you know, French kissing until your whole face is raw. That was pretty fun.
14. What is the smell of sex?
Is it almost like metal? Like, if there was an explosion of some sort or like when you smell an electrical fire? I don’t know… maybe, like when you’re done, when the smoke has cleared and there’s some sort of strange, wild, energetic, energy that feels some way.
15. What do you wish you could relive?
I feel like every day I live the life I want to live. There are so many beautiful moments that are great about each and every day… I don’t really think that way.
I mean, I could think back to people that I love who I’ve lost and I’d like to relive days with them, but I try to live each day the way that I’d like to, as much as I can.
16. What is consciousness?
Being aware of that inner voice inside of you, every moment, that’s the voice that leads you to your truth. That leads you to your real art. That leads you to your destiny. If you follow that feeling in your gut then you’ll never end up in the wrong place. Ever. And I feel that that truly is how you find your destiny.
17. Who do you most admire?
I admire incredible, amazing women. I admire women who are mothers, who run companies, who are entrepreneurs, who are fearless in what they do. My greatest mentors are mothers and incredible business women, and wives and sisters and the best friends you’ll ever have. I really admire that. Especially right now, in this society where we’re being so threatened by ‘The Man’ of taking away our basic rights.
18. What is your advice for future generations?
To fight for what you believe in. To have that passion and fire in your soul that makes you want to hop up out of the bed every morning. That scares you a little bit and makes you feel alive in every moment of your life. To know that being gracious and passionate are the greatest qualities that I think a human could possibly have.
19. What is the meaning of life?
To know that every second you have, I mean, it’s a macabre thought, but it's a real thought, in that we’re dying every second. Time is our greatest commodity. So you can sit around thinking about what you want and you can sit around dreaming about what you want or you can get off your fucking ass and make something happen. There’s a difference between hoping and making goals. You set goals for yourself and the way you get to them is through action. I see people who are sitting around whining wanting to know how to make it, wanting to know how to get their name out there, you know, with their thumb up their ass, scratching, and they put all their energy into the negative shit. They put all their energy into the ‘why isn’t this happening.’ And the thing of it is, don’t tell me why you can’t tell me why you can. You have to know that every single second is the most precious second of your life and anything can happen. So, there you have it.
You can check out more of Ashley’s art on her website and online store. And then run! don’t walk, to go follow her on the Instagrams and Facebooks.
