Art Mediums: Photography

www.kelly--o.com

Kelly is best known in Seattle for a little column she beat the streets photographing every week (for sixteen straight years!) at The Stranger—a crazy love affair with inebriated people called “Drunk of the Week.” Party pics weren’t the only trick she had up her sleeve. During her nearly two decades as the staff photographer at The Stranger, Kelly’s photographs also appeared online in The New York Times, Huffington Post, ABC News, XLR8R, Rolling Stone, and VICE. She has been published in print in SPIN, Interview, UNCUT, Mojo, BUST, and City Arts. Her work has been shown in art galleries Vermillion, Vignettes, Ghost Gallery, Hard L, and once in a group show at Greg Kucera Gallery. In 2017, three of her photographs, of musician Tendai Maraire, were featured at the Seattle Art Museum. Post-Stranger, Kelly was one of the visual artists featured at the 2019 Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. She continues to photograph people, whenever possible, in these perpetual pandemic times.

“I’ve felt a crippling disconnect from the outside world during this pandemic. Hiding at home, especially in the early days of Covid, felt like a horrible punishment—not unlike being grounded by Mom. For someone who loves to photograph people and events, having to be afraid of others is devastating beyond words. It still sucks. I miss documenting moments that can bring positive social change. I photographed some of the first days of the Shout Your Abortion movement, which is now more important than ever; I recorded the first testimonial video to launch Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project; I traveled to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota to document the NoDAPL oil pipeline protest. I like that kind of engagement.”“The first picture book I sold was inspired by driftwood that I found on the waterfront near the Sculpture Park. Because of that, I’m forever looking for inspiration around me—even in the simplest places. I always pull inspiration from my life and surroundings, past and present. That brings truth to my work and, I think, enriches the experience.”

“The “Drunk of the Week” years taught me a lot—it made me fall in love with the pursuit of authenticity, humor, and empathy. I love people and telling their stories. When I tell my own story, I often think of a mantra spoken by female French-American artist Louise Bourgeois, “It takes a certain courage to admit your own ridiculousness,” and that’s a recurring theme in my work.” 

“It’s important to me to tell a person’s truth. Trust between photographer and subject is required. When people tell me that the images we’ve created together “really capture them,” that’s when I know I’ve done it right. I’m most concerned with making pictures that present a shared vision. It’s never easy to execute a collaborative project. But, when it works, it’s like magic.”

“I am wildly inspired by other photographers—by looking at the world through their unique lenses. Is this where I can name drop? Thanks, I will! I learned so much and am so grateful to have worked directly with Seattle artists Alice Wheeler, David Belisle, and Anne Marie Musselman. All three have mentored me and taught me to have confidence in my own way of seeing and documenting the world.”

“I used to shoot Polaroid film when it was easily available in any drug store. Now it’s so crazy expensive. Every click, every pic, is like $2 or $3. I miss the joy of instant film—being able to capture some crazy moment, quick off the hip, then show it to the person and have a good laugh. It was fun to freeze time together, to immediately review a scene that happened just minutes before.”