THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

For his Fly By Night show, he sent 2,000 homing pigeons carrying LED lights into the night sky.  Previously his work Trading with the Enemy saw Riley fly pigeons from Key West to Havana smuggling Cuban cigars and for Now Those Days Are Gone, Riley embroidered portraits of 1,000 different pigeons complete with unique names and the loft in which they were bred.

MacNeill/Plaster, 2024

Each canvas depicts a single pigeon with its moniker and the name of its loft and crew embroidered beneath it.  This information is typically found on a bird’s leg band and is a nod to a tradition deeply rooted in New York City pigeon keeping culture. In some instances, the different types of breeds inform the pigeons’ assigned names and make related references.  Two Egyptian Swifts are named Cleopatra and Nefertiti; one Damascene bird, Nassrin Abdallah, is named after a Commander in the Syrian Women’s Protection Unit, and New York Flight pigeons are named after New York streets such as Jackie Robinson, Schermerhorn and Myrtle.

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