Weaver Erin M. Riley's Tapestries Confront Trauma and Vulnerability

In her latest exhibition, 40-year-old weaver Erin M. Riley confronts trauma and vulnerability through her tapestry art. Her works, on display at the PPOW gallery in a show titled "Life Looks Like a House for a Few Hours," depict a range of scenes from crime to suburbia, overlaying collaged fragments, text, and internet toolbars.

The medium of weaving, ancient and laborious, feels apt for Riley's investigative project. Her tapestries have the intimacy of Sylvia Plath poems crossed with forensic police reports, exposing how she sees herself as well as how others might. Childhood photos with faces blotted out and birthday parties that read as both ordinary snapshots and horror films are interspersed with Riley's own provocative selfies.

The private turns public in Riley's monumental weavings, which stretch up to nine by 12 feet. Built from wool and cotton remnants of shuttered mills and dyed by hand, each piece is a stitched-together reality, a scar-like knot that tells stories of survival, anger, and confession. Scenes of car wrecks, disembodied apartment windows, and the familiar script of abuse confront the viewer with unnerving force, challenging the viewer to reckon with the artist's haunted autobiographical narratives.