Karen Navarro, currently based in Houston, is an Argentine artist of Mapuche, Guaraní, and European descent whose practice includes photography, collage, the use of text and sculpture. Her image-based work and multimedia practice investigates the intersections of identity, representation, race, and belonging in reference to her migrant experience, her Indigenous identity, and the history of colonization and its influence. Her constructed portraits are known for pushing the boundaries of traditional photography and the use of color. Navarro has won numerous awards and grants for her mixed-media photography, among them the Artadia Fellowship and the Top Ten Lensculture Critics’ Choice Award, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Photo London Emerging Photographer of the Year Award and The Royal Photographic Society, IPE 163. Her work has been exhibited in the US and abroad. Selected shows include Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), USA; Galerija Upuluh, Zagreb, Croatia; FAR Center for Contemporary Arts, Bloomington, USA; Holocaust Museum Houston, USA; Artpace, San Antonio, USA and Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Navarro’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including ARTnews, The Guardian, Observer, and Rolling Stone Italia.
(Spring 2024)