Lot
35
At the Blackwatch
C-print, 2004-2007
76 x 102 cm
Estimate
$1 400
In Surrender (2004–07), Alana Riley approached people, both familiar and unknown, in their work environment and asked if she could carry him/her on her back while they released themselves physically to her. The photograph was taken in this moment of release and serves to dramatize the idea of letting go of oneself to another, as well as one’s portrait to the camera.
Biographical note
Alana Riley is a photo/video-based artist living and working in Montreal. She holds a BFA from Concordia University in studio arts and photography (2003). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Canada, China and the United States. In 2006, the works created during a residency at the Centre d’artistes Caravansérail (Rimouski) were exhibited as part of an exhibition at the Musée régional de Rimouski. In 2008, in addition to a solo exhibition of her recent work at VU Centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie (Quebec City), a large-scale exhibition of Riley’s work was presented at the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul. She has participated in a residency in Ireland’s National Sculpture Factory (2009) and her most recent work was exhibited at the Joyce Yahouda Gallery (Montreal) and will be in the fall at the Crawford Art Gallery (Ireland). In the spring of 2010, Riley’s work was presented in the exhibition Contemporary Art Montreal, in Shanghai (China). Riley is a recent finalist of the Emerging Photographers competition of Canada, organized by Magenta Publishing for the Arts. Her works are a part of private collections in Canada and the United States.