Karen Knorr, London

{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}

THE WORK OF PHOTOGRAPHER Karen Knorr first appeared here a few years ago. Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Knorr finished her education in Paris and London. After recently coming across the utterly enchanting image, above, of the giraffe at Château Chantilly in Harper’s Bazaar, was immediately inspired to revisit the artist’s work . . .

{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}

{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}

In her photographic series Fables [2003-2008] Karen combines analogue and digital photography, playfully reconfiguring tales [Ovid, Aesop La Fontaine] with popular culture [Disney and Attenborough] in museums and heritage sites, including Carnavalet Museum, the Museum of Hunt and Nature in Paris, Chambord Castle and the Conde Museum in Chantilly Castle.

{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}

{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}


The usual aim of the fable is to teach a lesson by drawing attention to animal behaviour and its relationship to human actions and shortcomings. Animals in fables speak metaphorically of human folly, criticizing human nature. Yet it seems that the nature of Karen Knorr’s work has another aim. In Knorr’s “Fables”  the animals are not dressed up to resemble humans nor do they illustrate any explicit  moral. Liberated, they roam freely in human territory drawing attenton to the unbridged gap between nature and culture. They encroach into the  domain of the museum and other cultural sanctuaries which resolutely forbids their entry.”


{arts & culture | photography by karen knorr, london}

The artist is currently Professor of Photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey.
[images : all photography by karen knorr]