Ashlyn Diaz is an interdisciplinary artist and archivist, Southern-born by way of St. Petersburg, Florida. Her studio practice is a careful meditation on historical and lived experiences within the African diaspora, examining the ongoing battle for decolonization in contemporary culture. Informed by a belief in a redemptive future, she uses craft traditions to blend her African American heritage and environmental consciousness. 

Diaz engages archived materials and found objects to mend histories of erasure and exclusion exacted by domineering power structures. She experiments with and discovers new ways to bend and shape materials, driven by genuine curiosity and hope. Diaz’s research manifests as vibrant, rhythmic, and atmospheric installations crafted from natural and recycled materials to create contemplative, interactive experiences. Her creative intersection of various media includes craft, digital media, installation, paper-making and printmaking. 

Diaz earned her BFA in drawing from the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida) and went on to pursue an MFA in studio art at Hunter College, CUNY (New York, New York). She was the recipient of a summer residency at the Chautauqua School of Art (Chautauqua, New York) in 2020 and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Robert Blackburn Printmaking Award in 2023. Diaz has been awarded fellowships from the Marilyn Nance Archive in 2024 and the C. Daniel Dawson Curatorial + Research program in 2025.

She lives and works in New York, New York.