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The Guru and Earth Changes - Photographic works exploring a personal history

Ryley was commissioned to create new photographic work for the exhibition ‘Like Tears in Rain’ curated by Luiza Tiextiera de Frietas. The exhibition was concerned with the themes of art and death and Ryley took a metaphorical stance. Using her personal history, a major area of investigation for Ryley, she created two new series of photographic image/text works ‘The Guru’ and ‘Earth Changes’. The former explored her experience visiting her father in a psychiatric unit shortly after he was sectioned. The latter explored a childhood experience where she envisaged the world being swallowed by water after conversations with her father about the inevitable ‘earth changes’ he awaited. Both works marked a turning point in her practice where she framed her creative texts combining them with images on the wall, giving the text equal value.

The themes of art and death have been explored in art for centuries and all civilizations have always been deeply concerned, in different ways, with life, death and life after death. ‘Like Tears in Rain’ an international group exhibition was held at The Palacio des Artes, Fábrica de Talentos Porto, Portugal June 2010. This exhibition included work by artists; Chung Teng Chu, Carlos Contente, Marius Engh, Carlos Garaicoa, João Louro, Euan Macdonald, Cildo Meireles, Susana Mendes Silva, Damian Ortega, Nedko Solakov, Francisco Tropa. Works from this series are now in the permanent collection of the Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal.