Photo by Kitoko Chargois
Karen is a self-taught, image-based artist whose work explores aspects of identity and the physical body in relation to grief, ritual, and performance.
She has exhibited at Silver Eye Center for Photography, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, SPACE Gallery, and the Olin Fine Arts Center at Washington & Jefferson College, among others. She is the recipient of the Keystone Award Honorable Mention (2023) through Silver Eye Center for Photography and has received residencies through Cornell’s Image Text MFA program and Brew House Arts. Her work as been featured online and in print in SLANT’D Media, DER GREIF, Float Magazine, and Fraction Magazine.
Karen received a Bachelor of Arts in History of Art & Architecture and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently based in Pittsburgh, PA.
For price sheets and other inquiries: karenluephoto@gmail.com
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Artist Statement
Utilizing analog photography as a starting point, I explore how my identities as a queer, second-generation Chinese American woman function through a chronically ill body. My artistic practice is grounded in the need to understand the physical body in relation to identity, environment, and performance. How are identities performed or hidden through the body? How does the body’s performance react to and enforce itself upon its environment? How is one’s body performed when it is not physically there? Through the incorporation of textiles, writing, and installation, I seek to guide the viewer in how to see and interact with my body, while also attempting to regain agency and control over how it is performed and perceived. My image-making process is a continual negotiation between my body as its own actor and as something indistinguishable from myself.
News
April 17 - June 7, 2025 | On the Edge Of: 2025 Distillery Exhibition, Brew House Arts
March 14 - April 18, 2025 | every speck of dust illuminated, Tomayko Foundation, juried by Patrick Bova & Lucas Regazzi of april april
March 1 - March 29, 2025 | 2 Years of Exhibitions, Bottom Feeder Books
February 28 - March 30, 2025 | Underbelly, Olin Fine Arts Center, Washington & Jefferson College
February 10, 2025 | Featured in Issue 180 of Fraction Magazine
September 12 - October 19, 2024 | Benefit Auction 2024, Silver Eye Center for Photography
August 2, 2024 | Opening reception for group exhibition, “In the Ways We Tell,” at Assemble
May 4, 2024 | Opening reception for my solo exhibition, “Two Open Mouths,” at Bottom Feeder Books (on view through June 1st)
February 26, 2024 | Featured artist in online exhibition, “Distant Dialogues,” Float Magazine
February 22, 2024 | Guest lecturer in Photography for Non-Majors at Point Park University, taught by Justin Audet
February 2, 2024 | Featured artist in online exhibition, “Guest Room: Nadine Henrich & William Camargo,” DER GREIF