A self-portraiture series exploring the dichotamy of how we have both the ability to mentally imprison ourselves, while simultaneously holding the key to unlocking our freedom.
India Song 2008-2012
A Place like Amravati Udaipur City Palace Udaipur
Attaining Moksha Ajanta Caves Ajanta
Becoming Arihanta Sahastrabahu Temple-Gwalior
Bhakti Path of Sants Shiva Temple Hampi
Disccussions Concerning Rasa Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur
About India Song Karen Knorr
Karen Knorr’s past work from the 1980’s onwards took as its theme the ideas of power that underlie cultural heritage, playfully challenging the underlying assumptions of fine art collections in academies and museums in Europe through photography and video. Since 2008 her work has taken a new turn and focused its gaze on the upper caste culture of the Rajput in India and its relationship to the “other” through the use of photography, video and performance. The photographic series considers men’s space (mardana) and women’s space (zanana) in Mughal and Rajput palace architecture, havelis and mausoleums through large format digital photography.
Karen Knorr celebrates the rich visual culture, the foundation myths and stories of northern India, focusing on Rajasthan and using sacred and secular sites to consider caste, femininity and its relationship to the animal world. Interiors are painstakingly photographed with a large format Sinar P3 analogue camera and scanned to very high resolution. Live animals are inserted into the architectural sites, fusing high resolution digital with analogue photography. Animals photographed in sanctuaries, zoos and cities inhabit palaces, mausoleums , temples and holy sites, interrogating Indian cultural heritage and rigid hierarchies. Cranes, zebus, langurs, tigers and elephants mutate from princely pets to avatars of past feminine historic characters, blurring boundaries between reality and illusion and reinventing the Panchatantra for the 21st century.
Durga’s Mount, Juna Mahal, Dungarpur
New Temple Fighting Tigers
The-Avatars of Devi Samode Palace Samode
The-Conqueror-of-the-World-Podar-Haveli-Nawalgarh
The Gatekeeper Samode Palace Samode
The Inheritor Moti Mahal Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur
The Joy Of Ahimsa Takhat Vilas Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur
Flight to Freedom Juna Mahal Dungarpur
The Maharajas Apartment Udaipur City Palace Udaipur
The Messenger Purana Qila Delhi
Karen Knorr was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1960s. She finished her education in Paris and London. Karen has taught, exhibited and lectured internationally, including at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The University of Westminster, Goldsmiths, Harvard and The Art Institute of Chicago. She studied at the University of Westminster in the mid-1970s, exhibiting photography that addressed debates in cultural studies and film theory concerning the ‘politics of representation’ practices which emerged during the late 1970s qnd early 1980s. She is currently Professor of Photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey.
The Private Audience Aam Khas Juna Mahal Dungarpur
The Queens Fort Zenana Udaipur
The Return of the Hunter Jaipur Palace Jaipur
The Sound of Rain Junagarh Fort Bikaner
The Survivors Deogarh Palace Deogarh
The Witness Humayuns Tomb Delhi
Waiting for Atman Junagarh Fort Bikaner
Enjoy!
Salon lilas
The Thirsty Pigeon
A PIGEON, oppressed by excessive thirst, saw a goblet of water
painted on a signboard. Not supposing it to be only a picture,
she flew towards it with a loud whir and unwittingly dashed against the signboard,
jarring herself terribly. Having broken her wings by the blow,
she fell to the ground, and was caught by one of the bystanders.
Zeal should not outrun discretion.
Fables by Aesop
in a classic English translation by George Fyler Townsend
Flight to Freedom Juna Mahal Dungarpur
Autumn Day
Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Let thine shadows upon the sundials fall,
and unleash the winds upon the open fields.
Command the last fruits into fullness;
give them just two more ripe, southern days,
urge them into completion and press
the last bit of sweetness into the heavy wine.
He who has no house now, will no longer build.
He who is alone now, will remain alone,
will awake in the night, read, write long letters,
and will wander restlessly along the avenues,
back and forth, as the leaves begin to blow.
Rainer Maria Rilke
a lament-heaven 