Christina Riley is a Florida born, Ayrshire based photographer and author of Looking Down at the Stars: Life Beneath the Waves (Saraband, 2025). Her practice focuses on small details of the natural world, particularly in coastal and underwater environments. Drawn to the book form as a way of blending visual and written elements of her work, the influence of books and reading on her practice led her in 2019 to start The Nature Library, exploring the role of literature in times of climate crisis through library installations, writing, artist’s books and collaborations with arts and ecological organisations. Her photo book The Beach Today was published by Guillemot Press in 2021, and in 2025 she created her artist's book An Index of the Colour of the Sea. Recent essays have been published in Gutter, Extra Teeth, Little Toller, Caught by the River and Minding Nature. She was longlisted for Canongate’s Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing 2019 and a finalist in the 2023 Save Our Seas Ocean Storytelling Grant.
I can be contacted for a range of writing and photography services and offer workshops for all ages and abilities including photography, creative writing, papermaking and handmade books and zines. Most recently I’ve worked with the National Library of Scotland, Narture CIC, The Drink Cabinet, the Scottish Maritime Museum, and West Dunbartonshire Libraries as their Environmentalist-in-Residence.
For information on workshops and events, print sales, commissions or any other enquiry, get in touch using this contact form or by emailing hello@christinariley.co.uk
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 The Beach Today: A Year of Sea, Sky and Stone, Scottish Maritime Museum
2022 The Beach Today, Eston Arts Centre, Eston
2018 Beneath the Surface, Coburg House, Edinburgh
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Texas Photographic Society International Competition, Abilene
2025 Beneath the Waves, Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
2025 Argyll Hope Spot Retrospective, The Rockfield Centre, Oba
2024 Gulabi Print Show, Outlier, Glasgow
2024 Dookit Brewing Print Show, Market Gallery, Glasgow
2023 Enterprising on the Edge, Inverness Creative Academy, Inverness
2023 Quota, Art Walk Porty Festival, Portobello
2023 Argyll Hope Spot, The Rockfield Centre, Oban
2022 Seaweed Gardens, Oban
2021 The Magical Octopus II, Knockvologan Studies, Mull