Christina Riley (she/her) is a Florida born, Ayrshire based interdisciplinary artist who uses primarily photography, drawing, writing, found objects and installation to explore the essential connections between art, writing and science, with a particular focus on the ocean and underwater habitats.
Riley’s practice explores an infatuation with the known and unknown, engaging with the curiosities of the natural world and believing that something does not need to be understood in order to be cared for, but it does need to be seen and heard.
Drawn to tangible objects, Riley is fascinated by an instinctive desire to hold, touch, collect, gather and share. From the books of The Nature Library to marine objects in The Beach Today, to slow and methodical practices of dotwork or cameraless photography, to the power of the individuals within a collective, her practice explores the significance of the small and seemingly insignificant; how the part becomes the whole.
Her debut collection of essays was longlisted for Canongate’s Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing 2019 and is represented by Caro Clarke at Portobello Literary Agency. Also in 2019 Riley started The Nature Library, a roving library of books connecting people to land, sky and sea, and her photographic series The Beach Today was published by Guillemot Press in 2021