The imagery in Riley’s work is derived from personal photographs, found photographs sourced from the internet, and still lifes. She explores the innate difficulty of womanhood, objectification of the female body, and traumas both large and small that weigh on the search for self-identity. Riley has a history of sexual assault and violence in her family, the fear of which had a deep impact on the formation of her sexual identity. Her work is often partially autobiographical, an aspect of her practice that she sees as essential to both processing these experiences and to make others feel less alone.

While Riley’s work typically contains objects or figures, for this exhibition she bridges the two, exploring the way certain objects signify past relationships, secrets and shame, or sexual fantasies. The exhibition’s title, “Used Tape”, is a metaphor used in Abstinence-Only lesson plans to describe a young person who has had sex before marriage as unable to form lasting bonds. Shame around sexuality is explored through three thematic series which examine the trajectory of relationships and why they so often fail. The works explore both personal and interpersonal complications, as well as the more disturbing and violent aspects of intimate partnerships.