Jenny Riffle has been photographing Riley, a modern day Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and treasure hunter. Riley has been scavenging for treasure since age eleven. Riffle photographs Riley as he hunts utilizing a metal detector in the dirt and on sandy beaches. Riffle then photographs the objects Riley finds and collects.

Jenny Riffle’s Scavenger: Adventures in Treasure Hunting will be featured in the Griffin Museum’s Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, January 9 – March 26, 2015. It runs parallel to the theater’s productions of Young and Co. offerings, “Loretta Laroche,” and “That Hopey Changey Thing.”

A reception is February 19, 2014 at 6:30-8:00 p.m.

“I explore the line between documentary and fantasy as I look at [Riley’s] objects, what drives him to continue and the mythology and history of the treasure hunting persona,” says Riffle.

“I express my romantic view of his life and his treasure hunting obsession and choose not to show his daily activities outside of that,” says Jenny Riffle. “By only showing one side of his personality I create a larger than life character. I photograph him in Twain’s spirit, as a mythical adventurer, like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.”

Mark Twain writes in the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, “There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy’s life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.”

“A monetary value often can not be placed on hidden riches,” says Paula Tognarelli, executive director and curator for the Griffin Museum of Photography. “It is the journey and the process of seeking treasure in the mundane and forgotten that is alluring.”

Jenny Riffle received her MFA in Photography from School of Visual Arts in 2011 and her BA in Photography from Bard College in 2001. She currently lives and works in Seattle, WA. In 2014 Riffle was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. She received the Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship grant in 2013.