# Kelli Connell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kelli_Connell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Kelli_Connell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelli_Connell > Source revision: 1334456568 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American photographer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Kelli Connell | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1974}} | birth_place = [Oklahoma City](/source/Oklahoma_City), Oklahoma, United States | death_date = | death_place = | field = Photography | training = [Texas Woman's University](/source/Texas_Woman's_University){{cite web | author=Kelli Connell | year=2007 | title=Bio & Resume | publisher=Kelli Connell | url=http://kelliconnell.com/home.html | accessdate=January 22, 2012 | archive-date=January 29, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129074247/http://kelliconnell.com/home.html | url-status=dead }} | movement = Contemporary
[Surrealist](/source/Surrealist){{cite web|author=Leo Costello |title=Kelli Connell: Double Life |publisher=Art Lies |url=http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=129&issue=42&s=0 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130226005716/http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=129&issue=42&s=0 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2013 |accessdate=January 22, 2012}} | works = | patrons = | awards = }} '''Kelli Connell''' (born 1974) is an American [contemporary](/source/contemporary_art) photographer. Connell is known for creating portraits, which may appear as [self-portrait](/source/self-portrait)s.{{cite web | author=Martha Schwendener | year=2007 | title=Art in Review; Kelli Connell | work=Arts | publisher=[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times) | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DE3DD1131F93BA25756C0A9619C8B63 | accessdate=January 22, 2012}} Her work is held in the collections of the [Columbus Museum of Art](/source/Columbus_Museum_of_Art), the [High Museum of Art](/source/High_Museum_of_Art), the [Los Angeles County Museum of Art](/source/Los_Angeles_County_Museum_of_Art), the [Museum of Fine Arts Houston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts_Houston), the [Museum of Contemporary Photography](/source/Museum_of_Contemporary_Photography) and the [Dallas Museum of Art](/source/Dallas_Museum_of_Art).{{cite web|author=Christopher Harrity |year=2012 |title=Artist Spotlight: Kelli Connell |work=Photography |publisher=[The Advocate](/source/The_Advocate_(LGBT_magazine)) |url=http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Photography/Artist_Spotlight_Kelli_Connell/ |accessdate=January 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124031920/http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Photography/Artist_Spotlight_Kelli_Connell/ |archivedate=January 24, 2012}}{{Better source needed|date=September 2020}} ==Early life and education== Kelli Connell was born in 1974 in [Oklahoma City, Oklahoma](/source/Oklahoma_City%2C_Oklahoma).{{cite web |title=Kelli Connell {{!}} Museum of Contemporary Photography |url=https://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/connell_kelli.php |website=www.mocp.org |access-date=August 5, 2021 |archive-date=August 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805063755/https://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/connell_kelli.php |url-status=dead }} Connell took her first photography class as a junior in high school, and was influenced early on by the work of [Roni Horn](/source/Roni_Horn), [Francesca Woodman](/source/Francesca_Woodman), and [Larry Sultan](/source/Larry_Sultan).{{cite web |title=Kelli Connell and the Intimate Other |url=https://www.inthein-between.com/kelli-connell/ |website=In the In-Between |date=8 March 2013}} She received her BFA in Photography and Visual Arts Studies at the [University of North Texas](/source/University_of_North_Texas). In 2003, Connell received her Masters in Fine Arts in Photography and a minor in Art history from [Texas Woman’s University](/source/Texas_Woman's_University). ==Artistic career== Connell became a photographer to explore how photography can raise questions. In 2011, Decode Books released her first [monograph](/source/monograph), ''Double Life,'' in which she presented 36 color photographs of two young women occupied in their day to day activities of pleasure and reflection. ''Double Life'' seeks to question ideas of identity, [gender roles](/source/gender_roles), and expectations made by society on the individual. The series, which depicts a woman in a [romantic relationship](/source/romantic_relationship) with herself, shows the "couple" having intimate and private moments in their lives. Connell uses her art to define the multiple sides of the self in the overall human experience. The portraits are also a case of identity. Connell worked with the same model over a series of years to produce the work. Until 2025, she served as a professor at [Columbia College Chicago](/source/Columbia_College_Chicago), where she taught, mentored, and "established herself as part of an important group of Chicago photographers exploring a distinctive brand of psychological portraiture."{{Cite web |last=MacMillan |first=Kyle |date=2026-01-22 |title=Photographer Kelli Connell steps into the frame with expansive Elmhurst show |url=https://www.wbez.org/arts/2026/01/22/kelli-connell-modernism-elmhurst-art-museum-columbia-college |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=WBEZ |language=en-US}} ==Collections== *[Columbus Museum of Art](/source/Columbus_Museum_of_Art){{cite web |title=Giggle, 2002 |url=https://www.columbusmuseum.org/embark-collection/pages/Art30379/?sid=259770&x=42229317 |website=columbusmuseum.org| date=January 27, 2016 }} *[Dallas Museum of Art](/source/Dallas_Museum_of_Art){{cite web |title=Giggle - DMA Collection Online |url=https://collections.dma.org/artwork/5328211 |website=www.dma.org |language=en}} *[Los Angeles County Museum of Art](/source/Los_Angeles_County_Museum_of_Art){{cite web |title=Convertible Kiss {{!}} LACMA Collections |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/209693 |website=collections.lacma.org}} *"Carnival", 2006, [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), New York City{{cite web |title=Carnival |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/302230 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |accessdate=January 9, 2020}} *[Museum of Contemporary Photography](/source/Museum_of_Contemporary_Photography){{cite web |title=Museum of Contemporary Photography |url=https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=kelli&record=0 |website=www.mocp.org |access-date=August 5, 2021 |archive-date=August 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805062740/https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=kelli&record=0 |url-status=dead }} *[Museum of Fine Arts Houston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts_Houston){{cite web |title=Kelli Connell Head to Head |url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/115561/head-to-head?ctx=0ceb95ce0fed82a6ab79c3a1ea28b75be82369bc&idx=10801 |website=mfah.org}} ==Group Exhibitions== * ''FEEL ME'', Trapholt Museum of Modern Art and Design, Denmark, 2024 * ''Gorgeousness'', Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY, 2024 * ''o_ Man!'', Kelli Connell and Natalie Krick, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA, 2024 * ''Traces on the Landscape'', [Princeton University Art Museum](/source/Princeton_University_Art_Museum), Princeton, NJ, 2023 * ''All Roads are Open:'' ''Traveling Women Photographers'' Kunstforum Hermann Stenner, Bielefeld, Germany, 2023 * ''OFF-SPRING: New Generations,'' 21c Museum, Chicago, IL, 2023 * ''Refracting Histories,'' [Museum ''of Contemporary'' Photography](/source/Museum_of_Contemporary_Photography), Chicago, IL, 2022 * ''Rewriting Art History,'' Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA, 2022 * ''Gaze Maze II: Seeing Double,'' Elsa Art Space, Bielefeld, Germany, 2022 * ''Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow,'' The Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2022 * ''Collaborating with the Archive,'' Filter Photo, Chicago, IL, 2021 * ''Selections from the Permanent Collection: Contemporary Art,'' Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, 2021 * ''Keeper of the Hearth'', Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, 2020{{Cite web |date=February 11, 2025 |title=Square Space |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a9dbe0fe749406d0cd40a93/t/66131d2724eeea57ef25344e/1712528679644/Vita_Connell_Selected_April_2024.pdf |website=static1.squarespace.com}} ==Solo Exhibitions== *''Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell's Pictures for Charis and Double Life,'' Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, 2026{{Cite web |title=Living with Modernism Kelli Connell’s Pictures for Charis and Double Life |url=https://elmhurstartmuseum.org/exhibitions/Living%20With%20Modernism |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=Elmhurst Art Museum |language=en}} *[Center for Creative Photography](/source/Center_for_Creative_Photography), Tucson, AZ Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2025 *[High Museum of Art](/source/High_Museum_of_Art), Atlanta, GA, 2024{{Cite web |title=Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis |url=https://high.org/exhibition/kelli-connell/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=High Museum of Art |language=en-US}} *Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, IN Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA, 2023 *[Sheldon Museum of Art](/source/Sheldon_Museum_of_Art), Lincoln, NE Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR, 2022 *Center for Photography Woodstock, NY Alice Austen House, Staten Island, NY, 2021 *''Double Life,'' [Columbus Museum of Art](/source/Columbus_Museum_of_Art), Columbus, Ohio, 2004{{cite web |title=Kelli Connell |url=http://lenscratch.com/2012/02/kelli-connell/ |website=LENSCRATCH |date=18 February 2012}} *''Kelli Connell: Photographs,'' Kendall College of Art and Design, [Ferris State University](/source/Ferris_State_University), Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2009{{cite web|accessdate=September 8, 2020|title=Kelli Connell: Photographs|url=https://kcad.ferris.edu/events/kelli-connell-photographs/|website=kcad.ferris.edu}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ==Interviews== * ''Kelli Connell'' - Episode 73, PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, February 29, 2024{{Cite web |title=Kelli Connell – PhotoWork Foundation |url=https://photowork.foundation/kelli-connell/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=photowork.foundation |date=February 25, 2024 |language=en-US}} * Q+A: Kelli Connell, Strange Fire with Jess T. Dugan, January 4, 2018{{Cite web |title=Q&A: Kelli Connell |url=https://www.strangefirecollective.com/qa-kelli-connell |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=Strange Fire |language=en-US}} ==Publications== *''Double Life.'' Seattle: Decode 2011. With [Susan Bright](/source/Susan_Bright). {{ISBN|978-0-9793373-9-0}}. *''Pictures for Charis''. Aperture 2024. {{ISBN|978-1-5971155-9-9}}. ==Personal life== Connell is married to sculptor Betsy Odom.{{cite web |last1=Maloney |first1=Meghan |title=Kelli Connell and the Intimate Other |url=https://www.inthein-between.com/kelli-connell/ |website=In the In-Between |accessdate=January 9, 2020 |date=March 8, 2013}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{official website|http://kelliconnell.com}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Connell, Kelli}} Category:1974 births Category:American contemporary artists Category:Photographers from Oklahoma Category:Columbia College Chicago faculty Category:Artists from Oklahoma City Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:American women photographers Category:Living people Category:American lesbian artists Category:American women academics Category:LGBTQ people from Oklahoma Category:21st-century American photographers Category:21st-century American women artists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kelli Connell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelli_Connell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelli_Connell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.