Subtext

CHAPTER 6Politics

The Metaphoric Landscape

Featuring work by Karen Riley

 

 

THIS WORK WAS PRODUCED during a recent election cycle where the increasing divide between the have and have-nots was part of the discourse.

While looking at Riley's work in that context, it is easy to connect it to a landscape, an interior and exterior that continues to assert itself as it has for millennia, though we refer to this erosion of the middle class now as “the new normal.”

The images have a sense of unease, even edginess to them. To my eye, they easily relate to the concept of dark recesses, dark backroom deals, a lack of transparency, and a mockery of democracy ...