Karen Knorr’s photography explores cultural heritage and its ideological underpinnings. Questions concerning post colonialism and its relationship to aesthetics have permeated her photographic work since the 1980’s. Her acclaimed work India Song researched the stories and myths of India, photographing animals and placing them in temples and palaces across heritage sites in India. Karen Knorr won the V International Photography Pilar Citoler Prize in 2010. She has been nominated for the Deutsche Börse in 2011 and 2012 and Prix Pictet in 2012 and 2018. Karen Knorr’s work is included in collections worldwide including Moma (San Francisco), The Museum of Fine Art (Houston), Museum of Art and Photography (Bangalore), Tate Museum (London) and Pompidou Museum (Paris).
Karen Knorr is an advocate for diversity and inclusivity in photography. She is honorary chairwoman for Women in Photography at the Royal Photographic Society and on the steering committee of Fast Forward Women in Photography and a friend of AWARE, the online women’s artist index. She has been supporting several causes and charitable institutions including Artist Support Pledge, Blank White Space, Trace, Trussell Trust, The Photographers’ Gallery, The Centre for British Photography, Chiswick House and Gardens, Pitzhangar Manor, Royal Academy Schools, Women in Photography, Royal Photographic Society, and more recently LA Fire Relief and Fast Forward Women in Photography.
Recent publications include with Gost, Questions After Brecht (2020) which raises questions about architectural
In 2024 Sundaram Tagore Gallery held a solo exhibition of Knorr’s work, Karen Knorr: Intersections, which showcased works from Knorr’s brand-new series Scavi, as well as recent additions to India Song and Fables alongside historical analog photographs from Knorr’s groundbreaking work from the 1980s and ’90s. Knorr showed some of her 1980’s work, Gentlemen (1981–1983) Tate Britain’s, Photographing 80’s Britain: A Critical Decade, 21 November 2024–5 May 2025. Karen Knorr had a solo survey exhibition at Matmut Centre D’Art Contemporain de la Matmut in Saint- Pierre de Varengeville, France which closed 3 July 2025. Her co-authored project, Anna Fox and Karen Knorr, U.S. Route 1 (After Berenice Abbott) celebrating the work of Berenice Abbott and women on the road was recently exhibited (7 July–3 October 2025) at the international Rencontres d’Arles at Palais de L’Archevêché in Arles. The photo book, Anna Fox and Karen Knorr, U.S. Route 1 (After Berenice Abbott) published by Trolley Books in 2025 was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Prize.
In celebration of the bicentenary of photography, Karen Knorr Inhabits the Castle, opens 13 June – 1 November 2026 at Château d’Azay-le-Rideau. Featuring around fifty photographs, the retrospective is curated by Claude d’Anthenaise and supported by Les Filles du Calvaire. Also on view at the same time will be No Future, an exhibition of Karen Knorr and Olivier Richon’s series Punks (1977) at Château d’Oiron.
