Claire Riley (She/Her)
Instagram clairerileyfineart
Harborne, Birmingham
Artist Biography
Claire is originally from Oxford and studied Textiles at Loughborough University. She has since returned to painting and drawing, around which her practice is based, and has been working on her current project for almost two years.
Having worked in education for a long time, Claire is now the Marketing Manager at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Gallery in St Paul's Square, in the centre of Birmingham. Working four days a week allows Claire to dedicate Mondays to her arts practice, and she recently exhibited a charcoal self-portrait in the RBSA Portrait Prize, her first exhibition and the first time she has shown this enormously personal work.
About the artwork
Stripped - Do I Make You Feel Uncomfortable? series
The series evolved from off-hand comments made on Claire’s early self-portraits, comments such as “You’d look so much better if you’d smile”. These remarks suggested that the viewer does not feel comfortable seeing Claire’s ‘unmasked’ face and compelled her to produce work that confronts them with her true self.
As a passionate advocate for the ‘it’s ok to not be ok’ and ‘it’s time to talk’ campaigns, Claire hopes that her portraits will help others to talk about their experience of mental illness and not bow to societal pressures forcing them to hide their illness.