Drew Riley
Drew Riley is an artist and activist known for using art and arts events to advocate LGBTQIA+ communities. She was classically trained at the Gemini School of Visual Arts where she graduated with distinction in 2008. She started her art career as a concept artist and illustrator for a video games, movies, and animated films.
In 2013, a few years after she coming our as transgender to her friends and family, she started working on a self portrait, Adolescence, that explored her early journeys of gender discovery. Creating that portrait was the first time Riley had painted her true self, and seeing it completed was a profoundly emotional experience for her. Upon finishing, she decided that she would continue to paint other people like herself, and tell their stories her through art. Riley was driven to create something that did not exist when she was growing up in hopes to help others have an easier time finding themselves. This is what drove her to create the Gender Portraits project.
In 2016, Riley founded a nonprofit project, Gender Unbound, with the goal of hosting validating community arts events created by and for trans and intersex people. She served as Executive Director for 5 years, creating annual events like the Gender Unbound Art Fest with has hosted hundreds of trans and intersex creators across disciplines. In 2017, she was awarded a Critic's Pick for "Best Artivist" (artist/activist) by the Austin Chronicle and the "Media, Arts & Entertainment Award" from the Houston Transgender Unity Committee for her work on Gender Portraits and Gender Unbound. Though she no longer lives in Texas, Riley continues to serve as a board member for Gender Unbound.
While Riley’s mission has expanded beyond her original art series, Riley tries to find time to paint trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming people so that she can share their stories with the world. If you would like to be painted in the project, please submit through our online form.