The Program in Visual Arts at Johns Hopkins University invites you to a Visiting Artist Talk with Textile Artist Erin M. Riley. This event has been co-sponsored by The Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and The Department of the History of Art at Johns Hopkins University.
September 29, 2026, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Erin M. Riley (b. 1985) crafts meticulous, large-scale tapestries depicting intimate, erotic, and psychologically raw imagery that reflects upon relationships, memories, fantasies, and trauma. Collaging personal photographs, images sourced from the internet, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera to create her compositions, the Brooklyn-based weaver exposes the range of women’s lived experiences and how trauma weighs on the search for self-identity. In her review of Riley’s 2025 solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, Life Looks Like a House for a Few Hours, Annabel Keenan wrote in Frieze Magazine, “There’s an element of triumph in Riley’s work: even if her images reveal moments when she had no control over her life, she has persevered and regained agency through every stitch.” Riley received her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA. – Biography courtesy of P.P.O.W Gallery