Forest Kelley

Untitled

Maker

Forest Kelley (American, b. 1980), (RISD MFA 2014, Photography)

Title

Untitled
from the series Michael

Year

2013

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 47.1 x 61 cm (18 9/16 x 24 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

On verso, “Thank you Ann! / Forest” inscribed in black ink at center.

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Ann Fessler

Object Number

2021.118.7

Type

Exhibition History

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

In this untitled work, photographer Forest Kelley stands in front of what appears to be a lush landscape. A wooden door at the left of the image, however, reveals the scene’s artifice as a type of wallpaper. This trick of the eye becomes a rumination on loss: Kelley’s uncle died, presumably by suicide, shortly after HIV antibody testing became available in 1985.

This work points how the experience of illness reverberates and echoes long into the future. “My life would have been different had Michael lived; his very absence has been formative. My work connects me to a past that was and a present that could have been.”

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Tombstone

Forest Kelley (American, b. 1980)
Untitled; from the series Michael, 2013
Inkjet print on paper
Image: 47.1 x 61 cm (18 9/16 x 24 inches)
Gift of Ann Fessler 2021.118.7

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