Photography is a fundamental medium of recording life. The photograph serves as a bookmark in the memory, allowing the viewer to find his/her place in the unwritten history of life already lived. A picture that one keeps in a wallet, in a frame on the desk, or taped to the refrigerator door, is a relic of a past experience through it one can recall the sights, sounds, smells, and most importantly, the emotions and reactions that the episode in question evoked then and evoke still.

Alison Kelly uses a Diana, a simple plastic box camera, to keep something of her perceptions of the world as she travels through it. Many of her images may seem familiar to the viewer. They are not exotic locales, but rather the parts that one might overlook in search of the "scenic vista" unpopulated stretches of beaches, empty lots, the peaked roof of a house.

Kelly captures the images of these peripheral places, and presents them in a large format, like a window into the world of memory. They are large enough for a viewer to almost feel the wind and the sun on the face, sand between the toes, metal that is cool to the touch. The colors of the sky, the textures of soft leafy grass or the sand—all these lovely details suggest the sensual experience of being, at that moment, in that place.

Alison Kelly was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She attended Columbia College of Columbia University, where she studied anthropology, linguistics, and art. She also exhibited her photographic works in group shows on campus. Since graduation, Kelly has worked in the film industry. Her work was chosen by Nicole Eisenman for inclusion in the exhibition The Choice, at Exit Art in New York in the fall of 1998. Her photographs have been shown in group exhibitions at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in 1999 and the Meat Market Art Fair in 2000, and was included in the 1999 White Columns Benefit Exhibition and Auction.