#galleries west

Kelley shares intensely private moments: sexual fantasies, memories and fears. He stands unabashedly naked and allows viewers to experience life with HIV from the inside. For example, Of Hope and Sickness depicts the artist lying ill and helpless on his parents’ couch. His mother took this photo just days before his diagnosis. On the same couch, four years later, is an image of Kelley’s infant daughter. They are shown side-by-side, vulnerable, swaddled in white in a way reminiscent of baptismal clothing. Who is innocent? Which of these helpless beings deserves compassion?