artists

Klea McKenna is an artist and photographer whose work explores the role of nature and myth in our private lives. She uses photography to investigate place and the ways in which human dramas are reflected within ecology. Her work is engaged with analogue, hands-on methods of image making and the materiality of the photographic medium. She often works with handmade cameras and experimental methods of image making. Some recent experiments have included such approaches as putting plants and insects inside the camera while photographing, filling the camera with river water, and folding the film up so that it reacts to the light as a 3-dimensional object. In her own words, she is "interested in pushing photography’s potential capacity to record, not only image, but also physical contact, duration, and the invisible qualities of a place".

Mckenna was raised in rural Northern California and Hawaii. She has studied at Florence Art institute, UCLA and UCSC. She holds an MFA from California College of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited and published in both fine art and documentary venues. She currently teaches at California College of the Arts and maintains a studio in San Francisco, CA. 

Reviews/Essays/Articles
B & W Magazine - Spotlight
NYMPHOTO - A Collective of Women Photographers
The Butterfly Hunter - Review by Erik Davis (techgnosis.com)