Artist Feature: Riley Wynn
Riley Wynn’s work is that of a true Nantucketer. His style of photography is quiet and authentic. He notices small things in the humble, often overlooked corners of the island and he creates something beautiful out of them. Through his lens, he creates portraits of Nantucket that most people don’t see. It’s the small things, the things that make up daily life here, the unnoticeable things that make Nantucket so special. That’s what Wynn captures.
His life on Nantucket began on the westside. Born and raised on the island, his family lived in a little post and beam cottage out in Madaket back in the ‘90s. It bordered on conservation land, so it was as close to country living as you could get. “My late father, an eternal hippie, moved out here in '69 to work in carpentry,” he told me. “My mom had a master's in environmental education, and came to work for the Maria Mitchell Assoc.”
Wynn’s parents shared love of nature, creation, and artistic pursuit was instilled in him and his brother beginning at a very young age. “I’ve been surrounded and encouraged by creative people my whole life to try out different crafts. My whole family, my friends, and my wife are all super creative.”
Wynn says he’s grateful to have grown up in such a special place. The island community molded him into who he is today. Like any kid growing up on Nantucket, the summer season was the highlight of the year. “My brother and I were extremely lucky to spend a good deal of it with my Dad,” he recounted.
His father had his own carpentry business, and could be flexible with his hours. His carpentry skills spilled over into other aspects of their lives, and he often created things for Wynn and his brother to play with. “He didn't have a 4x4 to drive onto Nobadeer, so he invented a beach cart out of materials he upcycled from the Take It or Leave it,” he remembered. “The main structural component was the wishbone of a windsurfing sail. He'd load that up with surfboards, skimboards, fishing rods, beach chairs — everything you could think of for a day on the beach. We’d have to be dragged off the beach at sunset.”
Wynn bought his first DSLR camera at age 19, which he used to explore photography throughout his early twenties. By the time he was 25, he had thrown himself headlong into it. “I was living off-island at the time, kind of just scraping by, and not really sure what I was doing with my life,” he explained. “On a weekend trip back home, I dug up an old Pentax Mx 35mm film camera that was in a forgotten bag in our basement, had my Mom (who worked at the one-hour photoshop on the island or a time) show me how to load a roll and I was off and running.”
Making photos became a vital, positive outlet for him. Soon, he was obsessed. He read as much as he could about the art of photography and began shooting with different film stocks and cameras. He was immersing himself in the medium any way he could. That depth of knowledge about the inner workings of photography has paid off in spades “My first rolls were horrendous,” he laughed, “but mixed in were some rewarding shots. I mainly shoot digital today, but the experience of shooting with a mechanical SLR with no light meter and no immediate feedback on the screen made my eye much more critical, and allowed my technical knowledge of photography to grow exponentially.”
Today, Wynn has a very intriguing body of work. To me, it is in a league of it’s own. He notices a scene that most other might pass by entirely, and somehow he turns it into a work of art. I asked him how he would define this artistic style — a hard thing to do for any artist.
He thought for a second before answering. “I work as a graphic designer in my spare time, and my bachelor’s is a conglomeration of architecture, sociology and land use planning, so I guess my eye is drawn to simple, more graphic fragments within the landscape. I’m attracted to minimal compositions. I like the challenge of creating an image that lingers using only a few elements. I’m more drawn to the little scenes that exist in normal, mundane locations than I am in creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape composition.”
Wynn also has another reason for taking the kinds of photos that he does. Nantucket has been subject to gentrification in the last few years, and he wants to capture some of the raw magic of the island before it’s gone forever.
“From what I can tell there aren’t many photographers on the island that highlight these areas, and part of me feels responsible to capture them before they inevitably get bulldozed,” he said. “These scenes are important and special to me, but it’s been challenging and rewarding to make them appeal to a broader audience.”
Any artist has the high potential to find themselves in a rut, and Wynn is not immune to that. During the pandemic, like so many others, he found himself deeply mired in one. Like any good creative, though, he channeled his artistic outlet as a way to shake off the cobwebs and came up with a simple task for himself. “I decided to commit to making one photograph each day of the year,” he said. “Every single day. So far I've made more photos this year than the past two years combined, and it’s only May.”
Shooting daily has allowed him to rediscover what inspires him, breathing new life into his unique body of work. “At times the conditions are less than ideal, but you still want to make something interesting, no matter what,” he said. “By necessity, you’re forced to seek out pleasing combinations of light and dark values, angles, and textures, especially in the less ‘polished’ areas of the island.”
Although Wynn is an extraordinarily talented photographer, he knows that it’s a never-ending journey. He’s constantly learning, constantly trying new things, and constantly challenging himself to stay curious.
“The best advice I’ve heard about facing any situation is that it’s better to be interested than interesting,” he told me. “If you’re genuinely curious about everything, and question the little things as well as the deeper issues, you’ll never run out of subject matter. I'm only on page one of my photographic journey, and the farther along you go in any pursuit, the deeper the questions have to become. Topics like commuting, gentrification, housing, sustainability, and power dynamics are what I keep going back to when my mind wanders. Of course, I’ll never lose interest in photographing landscapes or color studies, but there are crucial areas of island life that have only been briefly touched upon that need to be discussed.”
I closed out our conversation asking him what it means, to him, to be a Nantucket Native. After a long pause, he answered. “Natives are resilient, resourceful, opinionated, direct, proud and above all else, love and care for this little sandbar more than anything in the world,” he replied. “What I love most about this community, natives and washashores alike, is that while we all have disparate experiences, world views, income and education levels, when something catastrophic happens, we support each other.”
View and purchase Riley’s latest work on his website, and follow him on instagram @rileymartinwynn
