*This post is part of a series of blog posts highlighting award winning contributors and supporters of Scribendi.
Cecelia Kelly, a sophomore at the University of New Mexico, uses photography to capture abstract and ambiguous scenes. Her black and white digital photograph, Weird Sisters, was selected as Scribendi’s 2014 Staff Choice Award winner.
The photograph, comprised of some knobby carrots found in the artist’s garden, was inspired by 16th century paintings of fruits and vegetables. “I also drew from minimalist concepts of space and simplicity, which actually can be seen in a lot of my work.”
Cecelia has been interested in photography since 2009, and takes inspiration from artists such as Minor White, Alfred Stieglitz, Alec Soth, and her former photography teacher David Ondrik. She is also inspired by the concepts of minimalism and Zen, as well as experimental music.
After a Scribendi staff member spoke to Cecelia’s honors course about the call for submissions, Cecelia decided to submit several of her photographs to the 2014 issue. Cecelia feels that publications like Scribendi are crucial to emerging artists like herself. “It is important for young artists to get their names out there in as many ways as possible. Scribendi is a great place to start because it is so accessible for college students.”
Since being published in Scribendi’s 2014 issue, Cecelia has become more interested in photographing people. “I think my next big challenge will be learning how to capture a person in a photograph in the same way I photograph objects and scenery.”
Be sure to check out Weird Sisters as well as Cecelia’s photograph, Disturbance, also featured in Scribendi’s 2014 edition.