Erin M. Riley Weaves Internet Culture into Tapestries

Textile artist Erin M. Riley uses a slow, traditional medium—the loom—to depict fast, disposable digital images from internet culture. Her tapestries feature selfies, wads of cash, video playback bars, text messages, and tattooed bodies. Notable works include a video interface and a rolled fifty-dollar bill secured with a rubber band, each requiring weeks to complete. Riley tells Vulture her subjects come from her life and the women around her: family photos with faces erased, images from OnlyFans accounts, and glimpses of Massachusetts homes where she grew up. Tattooed skin recurs as a second narrative layer, as in "The Hunted" (2022), where a female figure photographs herself in a mirror—a contemporary gesture frozen by an ancient technique. The appeal lies in the stratification of two seemingly distant worlds that together create a unique aesthetic.