Bio

Tiya Ayele is a photographer based in the Greater Washington DC area. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 2024 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and a focus in photography. Her work explores a recontextualization of common American motifs and aesthetics by centering the perspectives of those typically concealed from traditional American society. Primary themes throughout her work include an exploration of her family’s story of immigration, documenting her friends and what it means to be queer and young today, and implementing street photography/photojournalism as a survey of the broader American disposition.