Background
Riley was born in 1960 in Dubbo, central New South Wales, to Allen Riley and Dorothy, née Wright.
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Michael Riley
Edit ProfileEducation
Riley moved to Sydney in 1976, and attended a photography course at the Tin Sheds, University of Sydney.
Career
A significant figure in Contemporary Indigenous Australian art, Riley"s work is held by many public art institutions including the. He subsequently worked as a technician in the photography department of the Sydney College of the Arts, where he continued to study. Riley"s photographs range widely, but with an emphasis on portraiture, and on symbolic, sometimes surreal images.
Many of Riley"s photographs and films explore Indigenous identity, experience and politics, including Malangi: A day in the life of a bark painter (1991), Poison (1991), Blacktracker (1996), and Tent Boxers (2000).
Riley"s work was amongst that of eight Australian Indigenous artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. Boomalli: Five Koorie Artists (1988) Breakthrough series: Alice (1988) Dreamings: The art of Aboriginal Australia (1988) Frances (1990) Malangi: A day in the life of a bark painter (1991) Poison (1991) Quest for country (1993) Welcome to my Koori world (1993) A passage through the aisles (1994) Kangaroo dancer (1994) Eora (1995) Blacktracker (1996) The masters (1996) Empire (1997) I don"t wanna be a bludger (1999) Tent boxers (2000).
