Kelli Connell
Double Life, 20 Years
Dates + Events
August Gallery Walk | Kelli Connell
Friday, August 4 | 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Kelli Connell
Double Life, 20 Years
Many people initially think that Double Life is a series of self-portraits. Indeed, the figure and face of model Kiba Johnson have become synonymous with Kelli Connell’s name. In many ways, Kiba is a stand-in for the photographer, and Connell uses her to play multiple sides of her own self.
Connell’s process is reliant on her invisible presence in the photographs. She sets up the shot and then steps into the scene with Kiba to build a believable interaction. Although Connell is there in the formative moment, she later cuts herself out of the frame and inserts a double of Kiba in her place.
The emotional richness of the photographs stems from their ambiguity. Connell composes scenes that pause in the indecisive moment, and characters who linger in slow time. This open-endedness makes it difficult for the viewer to categorize the subjects or define the nature of their relationship. But it’s apparent that intimacy grows there, and Connell seems to draw the pulse of her imagery from this source.
Double Life exists in a world built of unanswered questions. In an interview with Meghan Maloney Connell speaks to the power of the unresolved space that she creates between two people.
“Most of my work evokes a quiet tone that is charged – whether this charge is from a sexual tension or an unspoken elephant in the room that neither figure is addressing. It is true that overall the images evoke a warmth, even where sadness may be present. The earlier images in the series explore self discovery about sexuality and who we are in relationships in a parallel with what I was discovering about myself in my own life. These images reflect the first stages of relationships – meeting, flirting, making out, fighting, making up, etc. In my recent images I have been pushing the emotional range of my work in order to depict a deeper understanding of the self and of relationships as they evolve over time. Now that I have been in a long term relationship for several years, I am interested in depicting the low points, struggles, joys, boredom, and empathy that one discovers about the self after being in a relationship for a long period of time.”
The photographs in this exhibition are part of a much larger body of work, one that has been ongoing for twenty years. Connell crafts a recognizable picture of the complex and bonded feelings and small moments of a long-term relationship. That it feels so real, when it’s entirely constructed, is a marvel.
Kelli Connell
Double Life, 20 Years
Many people initially think that Double Life is a series of self-portraits. Indeed, the figure and face of model Kiba Johnson have become synonymous with Kelli Connell’s name. In many ways, Kiba is a stand-in for the photographer, and Connell uses her to play multiple sides of her own self.
Connell’s process is reliant on her invisible presence in the photographs. She sets up the shot and then steps into the scene with Kiba to build a believable interaction. Although Connell is there in the formative moment, she later cuts herself out of the frame and inserts a double of Kiba in her place.
The emotional richness of the photographs stems from their ambiguity. Connell composes scenes that pause in the indecisive moment, and characters who linger in slow time. This open-endedness makes it difficult for the viewer to categorize the subjects or define the nature of their relationship. But it’s apparent that intimacy grows there, and Connell seems to draw the pulse of her imagery from this source.
Double Life exists in a world built of unanswered questions. In an interview with Meghan Maloney Connell speaks to the power of the unresolved space that she creates between two people.
“Most of my work evokes a quiet tone that is charged – whether this charge is from a sexual tension or an unspoken elephant in the room that neither figure is addressing. It is true that overall the images evoke a warmth, even where sadness may be present. The earlier images in the series explore self discovery about sexuality and who we are in relationships in a parallel with what I was discovering about myself in my own life. These images reflect the first stages of relationships – meeting, flirting, making out, fighting, making up, etc. In my recent images I have been pushing the emotional range of my work in order to depict a deeper understanding of the self and of relationships as they evolve over time. Now that I have been in a long term relationship for several years, I am interested in depicting the low points, struggles, joys, boredom, and empathy that one discovers about the self after being in a relationship for a long period of time.”
The photographs in this exhibition are part of a much larger body of work, one that has been ongoing for twenty years. Connell crafts a recognizable picture of the complex and bonded feelings and small moments of a long-term relationship. That it feels so real, when it’s entirely constructed, is a marvel.
Dates + Events
August Gallery Walk | Kelli Connell
Friday, August 4 | 5:00pm - 8:00pm
