Some of the most beloved and lasting bodies of photographic work are based on the great American road trip, and the vast majority of them are by men. And have you noticed they all have “America” in the title?

What do road trip projects by women look like? I’m a woman and a mother and my road trips happen in fits and starts during family vacations, college tours, and trips to the market. Come to think of it, my whole life is a road trip.

My latest road trip was to visit my two oldest kids at college, and the pictures are no less valid than making assumptions about strangers who live along the Mississippi.  My pictures are about my life.  They’re about me.

All of the well known road trip projects seem to want to make a statement about America, but do they? Or are they a bunch of white men driving around the country, spending a day here and a day there, bringing their viewpoints and biases along with them, and then purporting to make a statement about an entire country. 

I don’t want to make a statement about America.  

This is not Ashly Stohl ON America.

This is Ashly Stohl, in America.