Kate Dash is tight. Like, in the way you’d describe one of the undeniably cool kids at your school.
She has pink hair. She’s a skateboarder who likes to “bomb” down hills in San Francisco. And she’s a photographer who features images of other undeniably cool kids—the majority of whom are mothers. Oh, and Dash herself is a mother of two.
She was born in the Philippines, raised in the South Bay and now resides in San Francisco. I caught up with her in the City at Jessica Buera’s Concrete Rose Salon, where Dash told me about what color she plans to dye her hair next, as well as what’s next for her as a photographer: she’s on the verge of launching her own magazine, focused on photos and stories of mothers.
With Mother’s Day on Sunday, I thought it’d be a great time to amplify Dash’s work to dispel any notions that being a mother, no matter what age, is a bad thing. “That’s my whole purpose,” says Dash. “Like, why do we hate on moms so much? You know it’s like, we’re really out here. This society pushes everyone to have sex and the minute someone’s pregnant: ‘Ooh, you were a hoe. Ooh, you had sex. Ooh, what the hell were you doing having sex?'”
Dash’s Instagram name, @Been.Milky, honors the fact that mothers have the ability to feed all of humankind. In her eyes, mothers are the most important beings walking this earth. And since she’s a photographer, she can show us exactly what she sees.