Erin McGrath Rieke
Collecting Pieces of a Life.
Erin McGrath Rieke is an artist, writer, and advocate who explores the stories we carry. Through visual art and essays, she reveals how memory and place shape who we become.
Her work moves through themes of identity, resilience, memory, and meaning, inviting us to reflect on our own stories.
I have never been particularly good at separating my life from my work.
Since childhood, I have been writing, drawing, singing, performing, and saving the evidence: journals, photographs, fliers, scraps, and small records of my chaotic life.
For years, those pieces lived in closets, on shelves, and in dusty bins stacked in my musty basement. Now I am returning to them to understand what they reveal about the work of becoming.
What originally began as hobbies and habits evolved into the foundation of my work. Whether the process has been art, writing, advocacy, or community service, all have been attempts to find meaning and help others feel less alone.
Featured Areas of Work
Writing & The Journals
A living archive of memoir fragments, reflections, meditations, and personal essays exploring memory, identity, trauma, recovery and reinvention
Creative Work
Abstract visual work exploring emotional landscapes, resilience, fragmentation, healing and human connection through layered materials and intuitive process.
Advocacy & Community
Community-centered initiatives focused on survivor advocacy, mental health awareness, addiction recovery, storytelling, and creative healing.
Academic Studies & Educational Training
Erin’s interdisciplinary studies include coursework and certificate programs in psychology, trauma studies, philosophy, sociology, addiction and recovery, and social advocacy through institutions including:
Yale University
Stanford University
Wesleyan University
Johns Hopkins University
American Psychological Association
I no longer believe healing arrives all at once. I think it returns. In memory. In art. In language. In the decision to remain.
-e