||| erin m riley
My current work is inspired by the internet generation and the images presented by its people. Which is the result of many years research into the symptoms and results of addiction, traumatic events, death, single parent households, etc. which first started in order to understand how both of my sisters ended up struggling with addiction and I did not. This knowledge led to the psychoanalysis of every picture I found of a young woman in a risqué or slightly provocative situation and an assumption about their future. The images that I am most draw to are ones depicting self-discovery, experimentation, regression or development. The fact that sometimes very sad and personal images are available to the public is what I find the most disturbing. I am interested in the ways women become insecure, defiant, stubborn, obsessed, neurotic, etc. and I create stories based on research as to how they grew up and what led them down the path they are currently on. I am working with imagery from Google image search and Facebook, blowing them up into cartoons for my tapestries and weaving them on a Macomber floor loom with wool. I am hand dyeing the wool yarn I use to allow for some color variations and depth. These pieces are presented as traditional tapestries of snapshots which depict a generation of excess and confusion.