Watering False Flowers

For her first solo exhibition in Paris titled Watering False Flowers, American artist Erin M. Riley invites us into her intimate and personal life.

Through a series of self-portraits and contemporary still lifes, the artist explores themes such as sexuality, violence, the objectification of the female body, as well as the inherent traumas of the female condition, but also hope and healing. The use of wool as the main medium in Erin M. Riley’s practice gives her work a unique aesthetic and symbolic depth. Each thread, carefully dyed and woven by hand, recreates the pixelated and grainy textures of digital images, offering a tactile translation of visual data. The weaving process, carried out on a loom using traditional techniques, is both lengthy and meditative, engaging the artist in deep introspection.

This meticulous work is not simply an aesthetic pursuit but also an act of personal healing. By weaving her memories, Erin M. Riley doesn’t just capture them; she explores, assimilates, and freezes them in time. Each tapestry becomes a tangible testimony to her experience and identity, marking a specific moment in her life’s history. This creative process offers the artist a form of comfort and reaffirmation, turning weaving into a ritual of memory and resilience.

Trauma survivors often experience dissociation, and I’ve had many moments in my life where I had to remind myself that I existed. With this exhibition, I revisit the moments when I was truly present. The series of objects — money, radios, COVID tests, bloody tissues, flowers, selfies in basements, a mirror — act as portals, slits, black holes into spaces and times where life was defined by a before and after. Emptying, regenerating, repeating, reaffirming are all ideas I explore in this exhibition.

Erin M. Riley invites us to reflect on crucial social issues while immersing us in a soft and intimate universe, bringing us closer to her. Watering False Flowers suggests the idea of nurturing something deceptive, like trying to heal past traumas while neglecting present ones: The ‘false’ flowers symbolize the experiences of violence and dysfunction that society often chooses to ignore or minimize.

The final piece, Waiting 4 U, unfolds like an altar imbued with sensuality and melancholy, presenting itself as both a tribute to love and a reflection on pain. It embodies a meditation on how these feelings shape and transform our understanding of ourselves and the world.

These tapestries, drawing inspiration from intimate memories linked to music, love, and nostalgia from the 2000s, question notions of memory, truth, and healing. Each work becomes a mirror of complex emotions, inviting deep reflection on lived experiences and the importance of the traces they leave behind.

Erin M. Riley (born in 1985, lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) earned a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT, the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, the Museion in Bolzano, Italy, as well as at MassArt, Boston, MA. Her work is currently on view in “The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition” at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.