Ashleigh Docking

Ashleigh began her studies in 2021 and will finish in May of 2024 where she majors in photomedia and her minor is in communication design. She has done photography since high school, where her VCE photography final was chosen and exhibited at the CEM creative arts exhibition in 2021. She has always had a passion for photography but she really started to find her photography style at university, where she learnt that she loved taking black and white photos of people as she loves preserving the beauty of each of her models, where she also finds it a privilege to tell each of their stories. Ashleigh would love to pursue a career in fine art photography but would also like to branch out into commercial work as well as taking photos on film and developing her own photographs.

Un-Pink: Jenna, 2023

Un-Pink: Raquel, 2023

Un-Pink: Sienna, 2023

Un-Pink: Hayley,2023

Medusa, 2022

For this project, I was heavily inspired by the story of Medusa and wanted to show how she was raped by Poseidon, where I replicated the way he violated her through the use of handprints, which is a key symbol used by sexual assault survivors today.

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.