Klea McKenna, Photographic Relief

Wednesday, October 11, 2023 on Zoom @5 PM ET

Klea shares the evolution of her work and how she develops techniques that often misuse the photographic medium. She discusses cross-sensory translation, working with found objects, using archeology as a paradigm for making art and the intersection of photography with other mediums. She will read from her new book Witness Mark, just published by Saint Lucy Books, and will share the process of making work for her solo show, Rainbow Bruise, which opens October 26th at Penumbra Foundation in NY.

Biography

Klea McKenna (b. 1980, Freestone, CA) is a visual artist who writes, makes films and is known for cameraless photography and her innovative use of light-sensitive materials. She is a 2023 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship Award for Photography. Her work is held in several public collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; United States Embassy Collection; Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA, and The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. She studied art at UCLA, UCSC, and California College of the Arts. Klea is the daughter of renegade ethnobotanist, Kathleen Harrison and psychedelic philosopher, Terence McKenna. She lives in San Francisco with her partner and their young children.