East River Incognita 1: The Bright Passage is a multi-media project that addresses the artist's interest in the struggle of marginal peoples to sustain independent spaces. Interested specifically in the East River of New York, Duke Riley presents found and faux artifacts using visual language.

The exhibition includes a selection of works on paper as well as a nine-part video installation. The dense nautical scenes are influenced by 19th-century whaling art, woodcuts, tattoos and populist myths.