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Ashley McLean

@ashmclean

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C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 — Short List artist Ashley McLean @ashmclean

In the series "Seeking You in Other Bodies . . ." (2020–21), Ashley McLean (b. 1996, USA) negotiates body politics through an atmosphere of subtle, almost suspended tenderness. The young men photographed here are staged in ways that make vulnerability, touch, and self-possession palpable without turning them into spectacle. Against the persistent stereotype of Black masculinity as hardened, threatening, or emotionally unavailable, Ashley McLean’s portraits tune in to softness as a form of presence and resistance. Both deeply poised and undefended, what the photographer nurtures is a contemplative counter-image: one in which Black fatherhood, masculinity, skin, solitude, and care are allowed to breathe.

Over the coming days, we will present the Short List for the C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 before announcing this year’s winners in the categories Artist and Writer. The Short List and winners will also be featured by photography magazine @der_greif.

Made possible by @alexander.tutsek.stiftung

Doney & Solomon, II, 2020 + Alvaro & Thomias in Müggelsee, 2021 © Ashley McLean taken in C/O Berlin by @ashmclean

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Thank you @buckellison for the nomination and for the chance to reflect on my practice and perspective.

Honored to be included in this year’s list @cultured_mag @leicacamerausa. Grateful for this recognition and even more energized for what’s next 🖤 by @ashmclean

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Guyana, 2025 by @ashmclean

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My grandmother took me to her childhood home and showed me the steps she sat on as a child. I wondered what she dreamt about while sitting there.

At my graduation, she turned to my grandfather and said, “Congratulations to us.”

Maybe that’s all any of us are..continuations of dreams..

Thank you to everyone who visited my studio, shared a conversation, offered encouragement, or held space for me throughout these past two years.

I’m leaving deeply grateful for everyone who held me along the way, and with the feeling that the real work is only just beginning.

leaving with more questions than answers.

Photographs by @tajreed taken in Columbia University by @ashmclean

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What if I sat next to you, and remained..
2026 taken in East Coast Demerara, Guyana by @ashmclean

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words can’t fully express the way I’ve been held by many throughout my time at Columbia. thank you to everyone who has supported me and showed up to experience this work.

my thesis is a return home.

last week to view through May 24.

@wallachartgallery @columbiaschoolofthearts
615 W 129th St, New York, NY 10027
Wed–Sun, 12–6pm

Documentation by @markjaysonquines taken in Wallach Art Gallery by @ashmclean

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5 months ago

Between Reverie and Memory, 2026
Single channel video with four channel sound

MFA Thesis Exhibition, Wallach Gallery
Opening April 25, 3–6 pm
On view through May 24

A work shaped through memory and return. by @ashmclean

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6 months ago

A Study of Self
Self-portraits for @oddobody

Movement assistance by @arianasimonedc by @ashmclean

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7 months ago

Photographed the multi-hyphenate @donaldglover for the @nytimes

Special thanks to @amandalwebster 💛
Written by @ugwu
Lighting tech @arjay.est by @ashmclean

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2 years ago

Kiyan Williams and Bernard Lumpkin for @justsmilemagazine by @ashmclean

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10 months ago

“This is everything,” @paultazewell told the audience as he held his Oscar aloft at Los Angeles’s Dolby Theatre earlier this year.

In the crowd, the muses he has dressed, from Ariana Grande to Rachel Zegler, rose to give him a standing ovation. That night, the Akron, Ohio, native became the first Black man to win the award for Best Costume Design for his work on @wickedmovie.

Voluminous tailoring aside, Tazewell’s trademark is his collaborative bent—bringing silver screen A-listers and aspiring theater actors alike into the dressing room for long and winding conversations about character direction. “How do you see this role?” and “What are your intentions?” are just two of the queries that have yielded some of this century’s most indelible costumes. There was his Lin-Manuel Miranda one-two punch with 2008’s ‘In the Heights’ and the culture-shifting 2015 run of ‘Hamilton.’ A turn at the Metropolitan Opera with Terence Blanchard’s ‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones.’ And of course the worldwide phenomenon that is the ‘Wicked’ franchise.

It was on the set of 2019’s ‘Harriet,’ where she starred as abolitionist Harriet Tubman, that the designer first met his now-frequent co-conspirator, @cynthiaerivo. They found themselves side by side again when Erivo was cast as the all-green Witch of the West. Before they reunited for the release of ‘Wicked: For Good,’ the pair sat down to discuss how what happens in the dressing room—existential questions, scrapped ideas, and reality checks—lays the foundation for everything we see on screen and stage. Link in bio to read their conversation.

Photography: @ashmclean
Styling: @miltonmania
Grooming: @_beautifulleebeat
Lighting Tech: @markjaysonquines
Production: @missdionnenyc
Location: @schomburgcenter taken in New York, New York by @ashmclean

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