Forest Kelley is an Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Kentucky. He received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
His work aims to develop agency where it has been eroded, whether it is in depicting the early history of AIDS in rural New England communities or in exploring the lack of social accountability within new virtual labor markets. His practice is ultimately a social one: It is predicated on cultivating relationships, collecting personal histories, and investigating lived experiences.
His work has been shown internationally at galleries including 1708 Gallery (Richmond, VA), the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (Athens, GA), Clamp Art (NYC), and SF Camerawork (San Francisco). He was recognized with the 2020 Imagemaker Award by the Society for Photographic Education and an award for Best Music Score in 2018 from the International Documentary Association for my work on the Academy Award-nominated film Hale County This Morning, This Evening.