2026.03.27 The Muse

Kelli Connell's photography investigates sexuality, gender, identity, and photographer-sitter relationships. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. Connell's recent publications include Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis (Aperture and Center for Creative Photography, March 2024). Connell has received fellowships and residencies from the IAC, the Guggenheim Foundation, MacDowell, PLAYA, Peaked Hill Trust, LATITUDE, Light Work, and the Center for Creative Photography. Connell is a professor at Columbia College Chicago.

Currently, Connell's work is being celebrated at the Elmhurst Art Museum in an exhibition titled "Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell's Pictures for Charis and Double Life." This exhibition marks the largest presentation of her work in Chicago, and it draws intriguing parallels between her photographs and the iconic images of 20th-century photographer Edward Weston. The exhibition is divided into two parts: "Pictures for Charis," which reimagines Weston's landscapes and portraits through a modern feminist lens, and "Double Life," an ongoing series exploring personal relationships and self-identity. Connell's work is presented alongside Weston's original prints, creating a rich dialogue across time and space.

"Living with Modernism" is on view at the Elmhurst Art Museum through April 26, 2026. Connell, reflecting on this exhibit, states, "The importance of this project, for me, is turning the focus towards Charis Wilson. Learning about her writing, work, and relationship with Weston during the eleven years they lived together sheds light on a side of history that is often forgotten: the side of the subject as told through her own voice. The exhibition "Pictures for Charis" provides excerpts of text written by Wilson, and it is her voice that I used to guide my own image making."