Kelli Connell’s ‘Pictures for Charis’: A Captivating Exploration of Nature and the Artist-Muse Connection at the Cleveland Museum of Art

The resulting exhibition, which opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday, January 26, and runs through late May, revitalizes iconic photographs while incorporating a contemporary queer, feminist viewpoint in the process.

As Connell pursued Weston’s legacy and became absorbed by Wilson, she recognized that a modern artist-subject connection ought to be cooperative, prioritizing shared influence and authority for the model. She diligently worked to ensure that Odom’s artistic contribution and collaboration were acknowledged in the artwork.

According to Barbara Tannenbaum, CMA curator of photography, the exhibition reinterprets the work of Weston and Wilson through the perspectives of Connell and Odom, allowing for a more profound investigation of these themes.

“To revisit a master photographer like Weston, particularly considering his affiliation with Wilson and the landscape, and to approach his art from a radically different viewpoint 80 years later is absolutely extraordinary,” she remarked.

Tannenbaum informed Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that Connell had dedicated a decade to the project. Connell believed that following Weston’s passing, “his fame significantly increased,” yet she felt that Wilson’s impact within that milieu “had been diminished over the years.”

Connell aimed to amend the narrative and retrace the steps taken by the duo to the best of their ability – while “challenging traditional power structures” evident between artist and subject. This is a daring assertion; the connection between the works is enchanting.

Tannenbaum noted that Wilson was not merely Weston’s life partner, model, and muse. She compared them to partners. When Weston and Wilson collaborated on “California and the West,” they devised the itinerary collectively. The project was set to be distinctive on multiple fronts.

She articulated the model-photographer connection as “an intimate engagement, resembling lovemaking in certain respects, especially when the model also serves as a partner.”

Tannenbaum explained that Weston was awarded the inaugural Guggenheim grant in photography for this endeavor, with Wilson facilitating as a writer. She rewritten his initial grant application, which ultimately secured the financing.

Utilizing Weston and Wilson’s publication as a reference, Connell and Odom replicated portrait and landscape photographs at locations where Wilson and Weston lived, created art, and experienced time together.

An accompanying monograph “Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis” (2024) is co-published by Aperture and the Center for Creative Photography. It compiles Connell’s writings, portraits of Odom, fresh landscape imagery, and original materials from Wilson and Weston.

The exhibition showcases text excerpts from the monograph alongside the photographic art, providing a deeper comprehension of the creative journey.

Connell, who serves as an editor at Skylark Editions and an instructor at Columbia College Chicago, has extensively explored gender, identity, and sexuality in her artistic work.

Her creations are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Museum of Fine Arts Houston, among others.

An artist-curator and educator, Odom earned an MFA from the Yale University School of Art and a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, also receiving numerous grants and honors.

The CMA exhibition prompts attendees to reflect on the emotional depth of relationships and how they echo the physical vastness of the natural environment; the complexity of lives, and how they are always in danger of becoming “flattened, generalized, or

“misremembered.”

“In addition, there are two distinct romantic narratives that you observe entwined,” Tannenbaum concurred. “There’s Edward and Charis, along with Kelli and Betsy.”

Connell will examine these motifs and more during an artist discussion at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Saturday, February 8, at 2 p.m. The complimentary lecture stipulates pre-registration online.

Tannenbaum asserts that the partnership among the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the High Museum in Atlanta, and the Cleveland Museum of Art will stimulate the senses and provoke contemplation about how everything evolves over time.

“I wish for individuals to reflect on how connections, societal ethics, and perspectives have transformed from the 1930s to the present – including views of the landscape. It’s all somewhat at risk,” she mentioned.

Tannenbaum also aspires for the audience to contemplate the power relations inherent in the connection between the photographer and the subject, or artist and model.

“Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis” commences on Sunday, Jan. 26 at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. clevelandart.org.