In this same manner, the group that she co founded in 1968 – more than half a century ago – with fellow artist Peter Sedgley titled SPACE is still serving artists and the larger artistic community in London today. Riley’s sense of community was further on display when, as a board member of the National Gallery in the 1980s she was instrumental in preventing the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher’s spurious plan to ‘gift’ adjacent land to developers : this site is now instead the museum’s Sainsbury Wing.