"Betsy, Lake Ediza", 2015. Kelli Connell. High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Purchase with funds from the Friends of Photography © Kelli Connell
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01/26/2025 - 05/25/2025

The Cleveland Museum of Art 
11150 East Blvd, 
 
OH 44106 Cleveland

www.clevelandart.org/exhibitions/kelli-connell-pictures-charis 

 
In Pictures for Charis, American photographer Kelli Connell reconsiders the relationship between writer Charis (pronounced CARE-iss) Wilson and photographer Edward Weston through a close examination of Wilson’s prose and Weston’s iconic photographs of the Western landscape and the female nude. Connell weaves together the stories of Wilson and Weston with that of her own relationship with her partner at the time, Betsy Odom, enriching our understanding of the couple from her contemporary queer and feminist perspective. Using Weston and Wilson publications as a guide, Connell and Odom created portrait and landscape photographs at sites where Wilson and Weston lived, made art, and spent time together.
This exhibition juxtaposes Connell’s photographs with classic figure studies and landscapes by Weston from 1934–45, one of his most productive periods and the span of his relationship with Wilson.