ASHLUKA's Cover for The New Queer Conscience
Today is Thursday, June 25th
Rag & Bone Bindery is open for business
(read our post from Wednesday, March 25th for more information about how we're able to remain open for business)
Hello, everyone! This Thursday we’re looking at the illustrator Ashley Uananiau Lukashevsky who creates visual art under the name ASHLUKA and among friends goes by Ash. Lukashevsky was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and currently uses her “visual art as a tool to strengthen social movements for racial justice, immigrant justice, climate justice, mental health and LGBTQIA+ liberation” out of her home base in Echo Park, LA. She recognizes that a vital step in tearing down “harmful systems” is dreaming up what the world could look like without them. Lukashevsky collaborates with many organizations and others, including the ACLU and Ibram X. Kendi, to “draw what that world looks like”.
In the Bindery, we’ve been loving the bookThe New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli, with vibrant cover art by Lukashevsky. Eli, listed byOut magazine as one of the hundred most influential queer people, proposes inThe New Queer Conscience that an expansive and fresh understanding of global queer community is in order. Modeled off a quote from the Talmud that states that “all Jewish people are responsible for one another,” Eli’s proposed maxim for the queer community is that “queer people anywhere are responsible for queer people everywhere”. The book is a part of the Penguin Random House series “Pocket Change Collective,” which was “born out of a need for space,” and offers just that to several artists, activists, and all sorts of change-makers. The books are short and accessible, “but they are mighty. They ask big questions and propose even bigger solutions”. ASHLUKA designs the covers for all of them.
We’re looking forward to reading some other books in the series by poet Alok Vaid-Menon, author and art lover Kimberly Drew, and hip hop artist and activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. You can see more art by Ashley Uananiau Lukashevsky on herwebsite and Instagram, @ashlukadraws.
