Karen Knorr (USA / UK) was born in Germany and grew up in San Juan Puerto Rico in the 1960’s. She is based in London.

Karen Knorr’s photography explores cultural heritage and its ideological underpinings. Questions concerning the “other”, post colonialism, animality and its relationship to aesthetics have permeated her photographic work since the 1980’s. Her work enagages critically with documentary practice from a post conceptual perspective using humour, visuality ,beauty and staged photography..

Karen Knorr’s renown series India Song has been exhibited globally including Danziger Gallery, New York , Art Dubai, Bahrain Museum , Kochi Muziris Biennale . India Song researched the stories and myths of India photographing animals and placing them in temples and palaces across heritage sites in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra blurring boundaries between reality and illusion. The work addresses caste, gender and the anthropocene when both animal life and cultural heritage are threatened by mass tourism and climate change. Her recent work Monogatari and Karyukai is the result of her travels to Japan since 2012 and this work was shown as a solo Exhibition at Filles du Calvaire Gallery, Paris Oct 29- November 28 2015 and Paris Photo November 13- 15 2015. She is currently working on combining traditional Japanese crafts with photography for exhibition in a zen Buddhist temple and traditional Machiya in Kyoto April 2018.

Karen Knorr won the V International Photography Pilar Citoler Prize in 2011. She has been nominated for the Deutsche Börse in 2011 and 2012 (for India Song ) . Karen Knorr’s work is included in collections worldwide including Tate Museum , Victoria and Albert Museum , Pompidou Museum, San Franscico Museum of Modern Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art.

Karen Knorr was interviewed on French television on the English cultural programme Encore ( 2015) http://www.france24.com/en/20151113-culture-photography-tom-wood-karen-knorr-paris-photo-fever-month and interviewed by Stephen Bull for Desert Island Pics during London art fair (2016)https://soundcloud.com/londonartfairdiscussions/photoworks-presents-desert-island-pics-karen-knorrmp3 .