Riley Blanks
Golden Sun, 2019, Photography, 20 x 16”
Describe your artistic style in three words.
raw, ethereal, intimate
What's inspiring you right now?
I discover a lot of stimulus and personal reflection in reading other's stories. I absolutely love memoirs and fiction based in reality. During quarantine, I finally got to some books that had been on my list for much too long: Michelle Obama's Belonging, Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and Bell Hook's All About Love. I find the dance between imagination and reality fascinating and all three authors proliferated on that dynamic. I'm beginning Amerikanah by c. Half a Yellow Sun moved me deeply and I know this read will have no less effect!
What do you do when you're feeling uninspired?
Usually, if I'm feeling uninspired it is the result of being overwhelmed and overextended. Distractions have a tendency to lead me astray. Personally, the best cure is slowing down. I find solace in walking far distances with my dogs. It doesn't take much. Even just a pretty flower can elevate my mood.
Tell us something unique about your process.
While my images represent my experience; my thoughts are the very air I breathe and they must exist on paper. Writing allows me to crystalize intangibility. I keep random ideas, epiphanies, stories and dreams scattered all around me in journals, voice memos and electronic docs. Reading through those thoughts and translating them with my present mind has been a process I greatly enjoy. It allows me to elaborate horizontally instead of writing linearly. One of the greatest lessons I've learned from life and art is that no one thing has a beginning, middle nor end.
What advice do you have for other artists?
Your perspective determines your reality.
Belonging, 2019, Photography, 12 x 16”
Embodiment, 2019, Photography
Like clay, I mold, 2019, Photography
Claiming Space, 2019, Photography
Chameleon, 2019, Photography, 20 x 16”
Rising, 2019, Photography
Open Air, 2019, Photography
Judgment Call, 2019, Photography
Black Imagination, 2020, Photography
Riley Blanks is a communication artist and activist who tells stories while "shifting shapes" through photography, writing, and performing. She is the creator of Woke Beauty, a storytelling platform for all women that reimagines self‑celebration through therapeutic photography, education, and community building. Her podcast explores identity, resilience, and self actualization.