Fine Art nominee

At 14 years old, Lauren was raped for the first time and would not be diagnosed with PTSD for another 5 years because she felt unable to tell someone. Unfortunately, her story is not an uncommon one. In our society, rape and sexual assault are incredibly common issues. In Lauren Kelly's series, Echoes - Growing Up With PTSD: A consequence of Juvenile Rape, she conducted interviews with three women who were at varying levels of dealing with their trauma. The images based on these interviews often seem comforting at first, but become colored by the trauma described in the interviews. PTSD affects the part of the brain that allows people to distinguish between past and present memories. Many women experience triggers in places that simply remind them of where their trauma took place, thus creating echoes of memories that exist in no particular space or time. When the viewer interacts with the images through the interviews, they become witness to these stories as a close family member or friend would be. Through encouraging more people to be active witnesses, Lauren hopes to encourage more sufferers of sexual trauma to break their silence as she was able to.

Lauren Kelly is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, now living and working in Seattle. She is the recent winner of the Lenscratch Student prize and Critical Mass Top 50. Self-defined as a “trauma photographer,” Lauren takes interest in the process of healing — with subjects ranging from landscape to the psychological.



BFA Photography Rhode Island School of Design 2016



Recent Exhibitions:

2016

Echo, Blushroom Gallery, Online Platform
New Contemporaries, Gelman Gallery, Providence, RI
Senior Show Invitational, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Photography Department Senior Show, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Better Again, Gelman Gallery, Providence, RI
Echoes: Growing Up With PTSD, Red Eye Gallery, Providence, RI

2015

Identity and Repetition, Red Eye Gallery, Providence, RI
Last Picture Show, Powerhouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY

Awards:

-Critical Mass Top 50
-Lenscratch Student Prize
-Flash Forward Festival
-The New York Photo Festival

Publications:

-PDN Magazine, January 1st 2016
-FotoRoom, October 19th 2016
-Aint-Bad, September 6th 2016
-Don't Take Pictures, July 31st 2016
-Lenscratch, July 11th 2016
Eileen Spring Photography, April 27th 2016