Begun in 2002, Kelli Connell’s Double Life is an ongoing and complex body of work that studies our relationship with ourselves. The series appears to portray a close relationship between two women; however, closer looking reveals that these images are digitally creations of a single model, Kiba Jacobson who portrays both characters in each photograph. As such, Double Life is a poetic study of our interior life, one filled with contrasting desires, struggles, insecurities, and achievements. It also captures the expansive, complex, and emotionally significant moments of our lives, embodying the true nature of empathy: using how we care for, argue with, forgive, and love ourselves to guide how we engage with and care for others.

Each year, the Mayfield Village-based insurance company Progressive commissions an artist or group of artists to create artworks that interpret their annual report theme. This theme and its unique visual presentation embody a companywide focus for the coming year. Progressive commissioned Connell to continue her Double Life series for the 2024 annual report based on the theme “Empathy.” These photographs, presented at moCa June 28, 2025-January 4, 2026,  join Progressive’s globally recognized contemporary art collection.