ARTIST STATEMENT
Throughout 2022 and 2023 I worked with queer teens and adults in central Arkansas to create a collaborative photographic essay detailing their experiences growing up queer in the south. Through text, portraiture, and photographs made by my collaborators I aim to provide insight into the experience of being queer in the deep south. Though I am from Texas originally, I spent much of my formative teen and adult years in central Arkansas. It was a place where I explored my queer identity, grew my artistic vision, and started to think about the photograph as a means to tell a story. When I was asked to create a project about the state this project, titled “A More Receptive Beauty” was born. In 2022 I worked collaboratively through the summer and fall with 7 teens who were in or had just graduated from high schools around central Arkansas. After this section of the project was realized I was asked to continue the work, and chose to collaborate with 5 adults from and currently living in the area. Their narratives, stories, and images are inspiring and profound. The selection here is the work created by myself and Stormey Langhammer, a lesbian drag queen who is providing access, space and care for queer folks in Little Rock through her art and involvement in the drag scene.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Texas-raised, Arkansas-trained, Pennsylvania-planted, Elizabeth Kelly is a Philly-based photographer and art educator working primarily in traditional and alternative process photographic techniques. Her artistic and theoretical work has a substantial focus on the ethics of portraiture and expanding access to traditional photo education. These philosophies are integrated into her personal practice through collaboration and community work based in teaching and traditional photography.
© Elizabeth Kelly