Kelm is interested in typologies, models of mass production, the function of objects and the nature of their representation, and stylistic developments in patterned textiles, design, and technology. In her work she conflates several genres in single images or in series on a single motif that combine a variety of artistic, historical, and cross-cultural references. Taken with large- and medium-format analog cameras and individually printed by hand, her carefully composed pictures appear not unlike advertisements. But their sense of precise objectivity is undercut by artifice and strangeness: Kelm turns out baffling narratives, such as that in Untitled (Cardboard, Paisley, Ladder, Hands), in which the typically concealed photographic setup unexpectedly crops up within the picture frame.
