Angol
Some artwork changes everything.
Photographer Iris Bell has spent twelve years proving she doesn't need anyone to understand her work-or her.
Especially not Camille Navarro.
Once upon a time, Camille was the young critic who looked at Iris's photographs and wrote the seven words Iris never forgot: Bell reveals everything except herself.
Now Camille is the director of Helix Arts Cooperative, Iris is back in Chicago for an exhibition, and apparently twelve years isn't long enough to make attraction disappear.
They agree to keep things professional.
That lasts about as long as anyone should have expected.
As opening night approaches, Iris and Camille find themselves navigating old wounds, inconvenient chemistry, and a connection neither woman knows how to fit into the lives they've carefully built. But when a corporate sponsor pressures Helix over work involving queer and trans identity, the stakes move beyond their increasingly questionable professional boundaries.
Iris has spent her career leaving before anyone can ask her to stay.
Camille has built hers by becoming the person who never needs help.
Falling for each other might require both of them to reconsider what strength actually looks like.
Because being seen is one thing.
Letting someone know you is something else entirely.
When the Gallery Closes is a contemporary sapphic romance about grown-up desire, complicated histories, chosen family, professional ambition, and two women discovering that leaving and staying aren't always opposites.
