'Will the U.S. Ever Be US'

Cottonwood Center for the Arts is honored to present the photography of Rachel Riley for the month of February.

A tried and true, native New Yorker from a proud Puerto Rican family, Riley maintains a photography studio and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Watching the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, my heart connected fully to the sickness and sorrow being felt across the nation.” In that moment she realized the importance of adding her voice to the collective moment as a recorder and storyteller. Riley attended and documented her first protest on May 28th, 2020.

From that first experience, she traveled the country – chronicling women’s marches, and protests for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, with her journey taking her all the way to the White House and beyond.

Capturing solidarity, sorrow, anger, fear, triumph and progress with her lens, Riley’s photography shares every detail of humanity demanding change.