CANDELAR 2022: JULELA
JULY FEATURE:
Riley Goodman’s Cruel Summer featured in the Candelar 2022 July card, “Julela.”
Riley Goodman, raised in the Patapsco River Valley of Maryland, inquires about folklore, American history, and humankind's relation to the environments they inhabit in an effort to understand what endures, and how this manifests through the passage of time. Goodman juxtaposes the visual interpretation of research, often folk-based, storytelling with archival imagery and material from his personal collections of artifacts and ephemera. When combined, the work depicts a narrative that rather than noting a specific period, creates an ever-occurring understanding of history. By establishing this crafted world, Goodman invites the viewer to question tenets of authenticity, leaving the idea of 'historical truth' in an undisclosed middle ground.
Candelar Julela Featured Image: Cruel Summer, 2020,
Archival Inkjet Print, 20 x 30 inches, Unique Edition.
2021 marks my seventh year in Richmond, Virginia- four spent in undergrad at VCUarts, and now three as an emerging artist. I never imagined the impact that coming of age in this city would afford me. Richmond, a city alive in its own history, became a shelter to learn as I endured the universally difficult journey of leaving home for the first time, and growing up from 18 to 25. To live in Richmond is to be among both those around and those who came before us. Glints of afternoon sunlight creating movie-like sets, jazz music radiating from an indiscernible car, initials carved into your basement door- everything brushes the threshold of reality and fiction, past and present. It is the almost indescribable everyday magic of Richmond that has allowed me to become the photographer and person I am today.
Candela had the pleasure of hosting Goodman’s recent exhibition, From Yonder Wooded Hill, from the book of the same name (published by Fall Line Press). Take a look at the exhibition and available book below:
FROM YONDER
WOODED HILL
Riley Goodman
From Yonder Wooded Hill
Riley Goodman x Fall Line Press
Riley Goodman received his BFA in Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has exhibited works both nationally and internationally. His work has been collected by several institutions, most notably the MoMa, and has been featured in publications by Kris Grave Projects, Aint-Bad, and Vast Magazine. In 2021, he received an Honorable Mention in Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art’s Made in Virginia, and a third place in Aint-Bad's First Annual Book Prize Award in 2019.
