Ash Thayer

Ash Thayer is a filmmaker and multi-media artist based in Los Angeles, CA. Thayer was born in Memphis, TN and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, receiving a B.F.A. in Photography, then went on to earn an M.F.A. in Visual Arts at Columbia University. As a political activist involved in humanitarian and environmental issues, Thayer became involved in the housing crisis in New York in the 1990s after her own personal struggles with finding affordable housing while attending college. Thayer discovered the squatting community on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and lived in several of these buildings throughout the 90s. This work resulted in a monograph published by powerHouse Books in March of 2015, Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992-2000, which received widespread media attention and has been the subject of two solo exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles. Thayer's work is held in several art collections including the Saatchi Gallery in London, The Chicago Art Institute, and The Museum of the City of New York. She has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University and Columbia University. Thayer has spent the last two years photographing Viking women fighters and immersing herself in that community. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles where she is now in pre-production for her feature documentary 'Viking Women: The Crying Bones.' She will be shooting in 2018 in Denmark and other Scandinavian locations, serving as both director and producer.