ART

« BELGRAVIA » BY KAREN KNORR: A MONOGRAPH

By Crash redaction

KAREN KNORR’S « NON-PORTRAITS » TO BE PUBLISHED IN A BEAUTIFUL BOOK

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Karen Knorr was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1960s. After studying in Paris and London, the photographer exhibited her works all around the world, from the Tate Britain to the Tate Modern, while lecturing at the University of Westminster, Harvard and the Art Institute of Chicago. Early on, her photography has addressed debates in cultural studies as well ad the « politics of representation » practices of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Produced between 1979 and 1981, Belgravia is a series of black and white photographs witnessing the everyday life of a privileged minority. With ironic or humorous sentences accompanying each photograph, the photographer puts the British class system under the neo-liberalist Thatcher era in the late 1970s under the microscope.

Today, the independent publisher Stanley/Barker offers to rediscover the iconic work through a beautiful artist’s monograph. Planed for October 2015, the 35x28cm, on heavy stock printed book is definitely a piece of art in itself. A limited edition box set, including a signed print produced in collaboration with the artist will be available for the price of 400 pounds. « Belgravia is a cosmopolitain and rich neighborhood in London near Harrods in Knightsbridge with many non-domiciled residents, » says Knorr. « The photographs are not about individuals but about a group of people and their ideas during a particular time in history. »

A series of « non-portraits », as the photographer says, to discover soon…