Interview by Liz Sales

“Hanging from the ceiling of Karen Navarro’s studio is a photographic portrait of a young woman printed in strips onto horizontal wooden slats strung together to create a mobile. Each slat in this kinetic photographic sculpture seems to have the freedom to rotate independently. So, while the actual image remains the same, the viewer’s perception of it is subject to change. 

This mobile is a piece in the artist’s ongoing series, The Constructed Self, for which she cut and reassembled photographic portraits to build collages and sculptures. Navarro, an Argentinian artist, based in Houston, Texas, has created these dimensional portraits, with pieces that can be rearranged and displayed in a variety of ways to express the relationship between identity and perception. 

In this interview for LensCulture, she speaks to Liz Sales about her inspiration to make work addressing identity, the material nature of her working process and changing sense of self.”

To read more click here

Collect & Support Latin American Photography 

“Fragment, 2019” is part of the LATINAMERICANA fine art print sale by PHmuseum. 42 Latin American photographers were selected to participate in the limited edition fine art sale that runs only for 15 days. This is a great opportunity to acquire a print of “Fragment, 2019” and the first time to be on sale in this format.

About the initiative: “Way back in 2012 in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, we started PHmuseum with the dream and ambition of creating a democratic space to access contemporary photography and its language. It is thank to the passion and support of the Latin American community that it all started. This is why our first limited edition print sale is dedicated to celebrate and discover the photography of the continent.”  Giuseppe Oliverio

PHmuseum announced the 27 finalists of the PHmuseum 2020 Photography Grant selected by an independent jury. Karen was shortlisted and all finalists are now live at phmuseum.com/w20 and will be soon virtually projected at the 2020 Photo Vogue Festival. 

Karen’s work was included in The Guardian selection of the best images from the Photo London Digital international photography fair.

Delighted to announce Karen Navarro has been shortlisted for the Photo London Emerging Photographer of the Year Award 2020, in partnership with Nikon Northern Europe. 

The prize was launched during the first edition of Photo London in 2015. It is awarded to a young artist showing at Photo London. 

The Shortlisted Finalists for the Emerging Photographer of the Year Award 2020 are: Margaret (Sherie) Ngigi, presented by AKKA Project; Sameer Tawde, presented by Up Gallery; Thandiwe Muriu, presented by 193 Gallery; Karen Navarro, presented by Fotorelevance; Angela Blažanović, presented by Sid Motion, Marguerite Bornhauser, presented by Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea; David Uzochukwu, presented by Galerie no.8; Ibrahim Ahmed, presented by Tintera; Ryoichi Fujisaki, presented by KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY; Kira Leskinen,  presented by Persons Projects

The jury is composed by Simone Klein – Former Global Director of Print Sales at Magnum Photos – and Sofia Vollmer de Maduro – Director of Education, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, collector and Curator Emeritus of the Alberto Vollmer Foundation collection – both part of the Photo London  Curatorial Committee. They are joined by Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at the Guardian.

Announcing Karen Navarro participation in Photo London Fair Digital with Foto Relevance. Taking the lead to transition to digital Photo London Fair is the first international photography fair online. It brings together 104 exhibitors from 21 countries and offers a unique programme of digital events. The Fair will run from 7–18 October 2020, with two preview days on 5 and 6 October. 
Photo London Digital will take place on a platform built by the Fair’s digital partner, Artsy, and accessible both from the Photo London website and Artsy’s. 

Foto Relevance will present six photographers whose styles vary significantly within the genre of contemporary photography-based work. Each individual artist creates work in a unique style, ranging from traditional media combined with non-traditional subjects to techniques which utilize the physical deconstruction of images and their re-creation as 3D visual objects. In this curated selection, each artist revisits genres of still-life, portraiture, and performance in ways that consciously expand the boundaries of photography.

EXHIBITED ARTISTS
Margeaux Walter
Deborah Bay
Brenda Biondo
Robert Langham III
JP Terlizzi
Karen Navarro

There’s a new mural in town! 18 of them to be exact. Introducing WindowWorks, a public art initiative brought to you by the Downtown District. WindowWorks showcases the diversity and creativity found across The Lone Star State by transforming vacant and inactive storefronts along Main Street through bold, vibrant designs. In partnership with UP Art Studio, the program features the work of 18 Texas-based visual artists including Karen Navarro’s photography work. Check out Art Blocks to plan your self-guided tour.

Karen was recently invited to jury the Artadia Fellowship Houston 2020 and to continue to be involved in the program by being a mentor for the new rounds of fellows.
Read more about Karen’s recent Artadia fellowship and her role as a mentor on page 50-51 of ARTnews Spring issue 2020.

Claire Selvin wrote:
Karen Navarro was named a Houston Fellow just a few years after moving there from Buenos Aires, and will be a mentor for the program in 2020; she said the arrangement serves an important purpose in one of the most diverse cities in America. “It’s always good to have people who nurture your career,” she said. “Having recognition from a prestigious organization not only gives you validation; it motivates you to keep working more, because you know that the work you do– if you work hard– pays off.”

Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses
March 6–June 7, 2020

Karen Navarro is pleased to announce her participation in Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, the first museum exhibition with a conceptual focus on the late Houston hip hop legend DJ Screw. The exhibition explores visual arts practices that parallel the musical methods of this innovative DJ and feature unconventional photography and new media works by artists with personal ties to Houston, including B. Anele, Rabéa Ballin, Tay Butler, Jimmy Castillo, Jamal Cyrus, Robert Hodge, Shana Hoehn, Tomashi Jackson, Ann Johnson, Devin Kenny, Liss LaFleur, Karen Navarro, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Sondra Perry, and Charisse Pearlina Weston. 

The exhibition opens on the evening of Thursday, March 5, 2020 with a Members Preview from 6–7PM and a public opening from 7–9PM. The exhibition will remain on view through Sunday, June 7, 2020. As always, admission to CAMH is free.

Karen Navarro. Fragment, 2019. Archival inkjet print, wood, acrylic paint, and Epoxy. 48 x 56 inches. Courtesy the artist and Foto Relevance, Houston, Texas

Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses is a two- part interdisciplinary exhibition orbiting around the legacy of the late Houston legend DJ Screw. He produced his namesake sound, “chopped and screwed,” by using two turntables to slow down and layer hip hop tempos. The hallmarks of this technique—reducing pitch, slowing tempo, distorting input, and chopping lyrics to produce new meanings—have become synonymous with Houston hip hop, earning DJ Screw the nickname “The Originator.” Despite his untimely death at age 29 in 2000, the DJ and leader of Houston’s Screwed Up Click continues to influence artistic genres around the world.

In their photo-adjacent practices, the participating visual artists appropriate, mash-up, collage, and mutate photographic inputs, in addition to slowing time. Slowed and Throwed contends that remixing “sampled” materials is a radical aesthetic act utilized by both artists and musicians. Through reconfigurations of sourced and original materials, the featured artists draw attention to inequities stemming from race, gender, and sexual orientation, suggesting new possibilities and alternative realities. 

Slowed and Throwed is curated by Patricia Restrepo, Exhibitions Manager and Assistant Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, with guest curators Big Bubb, Owner of Screwed Up Records & Tapes, and ESG, rapper and member of the Screwed Up Click. The exhibition is also made possible through the assistance of Research Advisors Julie Grob, Coordinator for Instruction and Curator of Houston Hip Hop Research Collection at the University of Houston Libraries, and Rocky Rockett, independent hip hop educator. 

Read more about the show here.

In the news: 

Spring’s best museum shows celebrate the influence of daring experimentalists.
—Observer

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s show immortalizes the late musician in his hometown.
—Texas Monthly

FotoFest at CAMH gets Chopped and Screwed.
—PaperCity Magazine

CAMH’s new show is screwed up—and that’s a good thing.

Top 5 | March 5, 2020 | Slowed and Throwed sits at #1
—Glasstire

Observer

Texas Montly

PaperCity Magazine

CityBook Houston