Live Through This: A Retrospective | the early work of Leigh Riibe

Please join me for the opening reception!
Friday April 6th from 7-10PM at Honey Salon
located at 310 W Holly, next to Rocket Donuts

About the show: 

"It’s rare that a retrospective come before an artist show any of their work publicly. As a teenager, I produced a lot of art including collage, paintings, and photographs that I never allowed myself to show in a gallery setting mostly out of fear. Now that I am 30 years old, I have decided to have my first solo show be a collection of my photography spanning my teenage years (1994-2000) as a way to validate my history as an artist and honor what I’ve lived through.

I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through 8th grade, which I found to be more and more oppressive the older I got. There was just no tolerance for a young girl’s artistic expression, let alone opinions! By the seventh grade, I found myself getting in trouble for everything from dying my hair to writing a report speaking out against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (a report which was literally banned from school). I was heavily influenced by the music I immersed myself in. The Riot Girl Movement was born just a few miles from the little Seattle suburb I was trapped in. My older sister was attending college at Evergreen in Olympia watching this history unfold. She would mail me records from Kill Rock Stars, Sub Pop, K Records, Chainsaw, and the like and I would listen to them on repeat until I could recite every word. I remember the first time I heard Bikini Kill, I felt like I could breathe again; my rage was valid. I used this music as an escape from a place I found to be dull, lifeless, and without promise and as the ammunition that would propel me into a world better suited for me. I wanted so badly to scream, but I hadn’t found my voice, so I screamed through images.

The photos in this collection were taken before I had access to digital photography. Some were shot with a little red Kodak point-and-shoot, and some with a manual camera: a Minolta XD11 which was manufactured for the first time in ’77. All the photos are portraits of myself and my friends and are titled after songs I would consider to be a part of the Soundtrack of My Life."

There will also be collateral materials including a mix tape and a zine. These will be for sale at the opening reception at Honey Salon on April 6th and soon to be online. Stay tuned! Here is a mini sneak preview of the zine...