Karen Graffeo
Encyclopedia
Karen Graffeo is an American
artist based in Birmingham
, Alabama
. While specializing in photography
, Graffeo is also a choreographer and installation artist. Early in her photography career, she worked as Jerry Uelsmann
's assistant and model. She earned an undergraduate degree from Jacksonville State University
and a Master of Arts
in art education from the University of Alabama
, where she also earned MFA degrees in photography
and painting
. She has taught at the University of Montevallo
since 1990 and has also taught at University of Alabama at Birmingham
.
Graffeo is a founding member of Stare Studio along with Virginia Scruggs and Melissa Springer
.
From 1992 and until 2000, Graffeo was represented by Agnes
in Birmingham
, Alabama
.
of Space One Eleven traveled to several venues across Birmingham, including Space One Eleven, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
, the University of Alabama at Birmingham
, Visual Arts Gallery, and Agnes
. It showed the work of artists Emma Amos and Willie Birch and writer bell hooks
, as well as Ann Benton, Priscilla Hancock Cooper, Karen Graffeo, Lee Isaacs
, Janice Kluge
, Mary Ann Sampson
, J. M. Walker and Marie Weaver
.
In 1998, Graffeo's photography was included in the book "Visions of Angels: 35 Photographers Share Their Images" which showed the work of 35 photographers presenting their concepts of angels. Nelson Bloncourt and Karen Engelmann authored the book. Among other artists included were, Audrey Bernstein, Gary Issacs, Blake Little, Jock Sturges
and John Wimberley.
Graffeo's work was selected by Frank Simmons to be part of "co-dependent" from the exhibition series "From the Artist's Studio-Wish You Were Here " at Florida Atlantic University
in Boca Raton, Florida
. This exhibition was organized by Diana Shpungin & Blane De St Croix. Other artists in the exhibition included Jeremy Bailey, Julia Chiang and Odili Donald Odita.
In 2005, Space One Eleven exhibited Graffeo's work with John Trobaugh
for "In This Place". This exhibition was organized by M. K. Matalon to investigate place and location but to do so in relationship to contemporary Southern issues.
Graffeo's work was included in the touring exhibition "Stories for Her" as well as, Southern Roots–Women’s Voices, an invitational at Agnes Scott College
in Atlanta, "Medical Revisions" exhibited in both New York City
and Memphis, Tennessee
. Her "Prodigal Daughters," exhibited in both Birmingham, Alabama
and Atlanta, Georgia
and included ballet as well as exhibition. "Reminding Myself," which premiered in Florence, Alabama
also was also exhibited in New York City
and used performance as a device.
Her photography has been published in "Black Warrior Review", "Aura" literary magazine, "Number
", "Aperture
", and in collaboration with Richard Giles in "Untitled" magazine.
Since 1999, Graffeo has occupied much of her time documenting the Roma people, a gypsy people. She has composed this work from an ongoing series of trips and extended stays with the Roma outside of Rome, Italy resulting in many exhibitions.
Handwerker Gallery of Ithaca College
, Ithaca, New York
, exhibited "Let Us Now Praise the Rom: Documentary Photography by Karen Graffeo" in 2005
Graffeo's exhibition at SACI Gallery in Florence, Italy with her "Roma Series" in March 2007 is now continued in the library, the Biblioteca e Bottega Fioretta Mazzei, of the 'English' Cemetery.
Her work is throughout the world including the American cities of Atlanta (Georgia)
, Birmingham (Alabama)
and New York City
as well as Paris (France)
, Belfast (Northern Ireland)
, and the Italian Cities of Florence
and Rome
.
2009 Graffeo's work was chosen to be part of the exhibition "Anthropology: Revisited, Reinvented, Reinterpreted" along with the work of Lee Isaacs
, Sara Garden Armstrong
, Pinky Bass
, Joel Seah, The Chadwick's, Mitchell Gaudet, Kahn and Selesnick
, Mona Hatoum
, Beatrice Coron, Kelly Grider, Laura Gilbert, among others.
The exhibition was curated by Jon Coffelt
and Maddy Rosenberg
for Central Booking in Brooklyn, NY.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist based in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. While specializing in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, Graffeo is also a choreographer and installation artist. Early in her photography career, she worked as Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry Uelsmann
Jerry N. Uelsmann is an American photographer.Uelsmann was born in Detroit, Michigan. When he was in high school, his interest in photography sparked. He originally believed that using a camera could allow him to exist outside of himself, to live in a world captured through the lens...
's assistant and model. She earned an undergraduate degree from Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville State University is a regional public coeducational university located in Jacksonville, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in four academic units leading to Bachelor's, Master's, and Education Specialist degrees, in addition to continuing and...
and a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in art education from the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
, where she also earned MFA degrees in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. She has taught at the University of Montevallo
University of Montevallo
The University of Montevallo is a four-year public university located in Montevallo, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1896, it is Alabama's only public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Programs are offered through the Michael E...
since 1990 and has also taught at University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
.
Graffeo is a founding member of Stare Studio along with Virginia Scruggs and Melissa Springer
Melissa Springer
Melissa Springer is an American photojournalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Aperture, Elle, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Southern Living, The Village Voice and House & Garden.Springer was one of the first...
.
From 1992 and until 2000, Graffeo was represented by Agnes
Agnes (gallery)
Agnes was a Birmingham, Alabama photography gallery from 1993 to 2001. Shawn Boley, Jon Coffelt and Jan Hughes opened the gallery with the mission of attempting to raise awareness of social issues — such as cancer, AIDS, death and dying, the environment, homelessness, ethics, racism,...
in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
Work
"UpSouth" organized by Anne ArrasmithAnne Arrasmith
Anne Arrasmith is an American artist and curator who lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama. She co-founded and operates along with Peter Prinz the not-for-profit Space One Eleven. Arrasmith was a student of Edith Frohock while at University of Alabama at Birmingham.She and Peter Prinz founded...
of Space One Eleven traveled to several venues across Birmingham, including Space One Eleven, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a large interpretive museum and research center in Birmingham, Alabama that depicts the struggles of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s...
, the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
, Visual Arts Gallery, and Agnes
Agnes (gallery)
Agnes was a Birmingham, Alabama photography gallery from 1993 to 2001. Shawn Boley, Jon Coffelt and Jan Hughes opened the gallery with the mission of attempting to raise awareness of social issues — such as cancer, AIDS, death and dying, the environment, homelessness, ethics, racism,...
. It showed the work of artists Emma Amos and Willie Birch and writer bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, as well as Ann Benton, Priscilla Hancock Cooper, Karen Graffeo, Lee Isaacs
Lee Isaacs
Lee Isaacs is an American photographer, living and working in Birmingham, Alabama.Isaacs studied pinhole photography with Pinky Bass. He has worked both with commercial and art photography. He works with photography seminars and teaches classes and workshops across the US.He has involved himself...
, Janice Kluge
Janice Kluge
Janice Kluge is an American artist who specializes in large and small scale sculpture. She hold a BFA with honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and an MFA for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kluge is Professor Emeritus of sculpture and drawing at the University of Alabama...
, Mary Ann Sampson
Mary Ann Sampson
Mary Ann Sampson is an American artist living and working in Ragland, Alabama. Sampson is a Book artist, specializing in miniatures and broadsides most of which are uniques or one-of-a-kinds. She explores the book as a means of expressing visual ideas that stem from recollections of personal...
, J. M. Walker and Marie Weaver
Marie Weaver
Marie Weaver is an American artist who specializes in printmaking, book arts, painting, and graphic design. Weaver earned a B. A. from the University of Vermont and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University....
.
In 1998, Graffeo's photography was included in the book "Visions of Angels: 35 Photographers Share Their Images" which showed the work of 35 photographers presenting their concepts of angels. Nelson Bloncourt and Karen Engelmann authored the book. Among other artists included were, Audrey Bernstein, Gary Issacs, Blake Little, Jock Sturges
Jock Sturges
Jock Sturges is an American photographer, best known for his images of nude adolescents and their families, primarily taken at communes in Northern California and at the Atlantic-coast naturist resort at Montalivet, France. His work has been the subject of controversy...
and John Wimberley.
Graffeo's work was selected by Frank Simmons to be part of "co-dependent" from the exhibition series "From the Artist's Studio-Wish You Were Here " at Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University, also referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public, coeducational, research university located in , United States. The university has six satellite campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and in Fort...
in Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...
. This exhibition was organized by Diana Shpungin & Blane De St Croix. Other artists in the exhibition included Jeremy Bailey, Julia Chiang and Odili Donald Odita.
In 2005, Space One Eleven exhibited Graffeo's work with John Trobaugh
John Trobaugh
John Trobaugh in Lansing, Michigan is an American artist specializing in photography and based in Birmingham, Alabama. Trobaugh received his BFA in 1996 with honors from University of Alabama at Birmingham and went on to study photography at the School of Visual Arts...
for "In This Place". This exhibition was organized by M. K. Matalon to investigate place and location but to do so in relationship to contemporary Southern issues.
Graffeo's work was included in the touring exhibition "Stories for Her" as well as, Southern Roots–Women’s Voices, an invitational at Agnes Scott College
Agnes Scott College
Agnes Scott College is a private undergraduate college in the United States. Agnes Scott's campus lies in downtown Decatur, Georgia, nestled inside the perimeter of the bustling metro-Atlanta area....
in Atlanta, "Medical Revisions" exhibited in both New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. Her "Prodigal Daughters," exhibited in both Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
and included ballet as well as exhibition. "Reminding Myself," which premiered in Florence, Alabama
Florence, Alabama
Florence is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the northwestern corner of the state.According to the 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 36,721....
also was also exhibited in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and used performance as a device.
Her photography has been published in "Black Warrior Review", "Aura" literary magazine, "Number
Number
A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers....
", "Aperture
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
", and in collaboration with Richard Giles in "Untitled" magazine.
Since 1999, Graffeo has occupied much of her time documenting the Roma people, a gypsy people. She has composed this work from an ongoing series of trips and extended stays with the Roma outside of Rome, Italy resulting in many exhibitions.
Handwerker Gallery of Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, exhibited "Let Us Now Praise the Rom: Documentary Photography by Karen Graffeo" in 2005
Graffeo's exhibition at SACI Gallery in Florence, Italy with her "Roma Series" in March 2007 is now continued in the library, the Biblioteca e Bottega Fioretta Mazzei, of the 'English' Cemetery.
Her work is throughout the world including the American cities of Atlanta (Georgia)
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Birmingham (Alabama)
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
as well as Paris (France)
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Belfast (Northern Ireland)
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, and the Italian Cities of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
2009 Graffeo's work was chosen to be part of the exhibition "Anthropology: Revisited, Reinvented, Reinterpreted" along with the work of Lee Isaacs
Lee Isaacs
Lee Isaacs is an American photographer, living and working in Birmingham, Alabama.Isaacs studied pinhole photography with Pinky Bass. He has worked both with commercial and art photography. He works with photography seminars and teaches classes and workshops across the US.He has involved himself...
, Sara Garden Armstrong
Sara Garden Armstrong
Sara Garden Armstrong is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Armstrong creates sculptures, paintings, drawings from miniature to wall size, artist's books, multimedia artworks involving computers sound and light, and constructs permanent installations in atrium spaces...
, Pinky Bass
Pinky Bass
Pinky M. M. Bass is an American photographer, known for her work in pinhole photography.Bass, a resident of Fairhope, Alabama, has exhibited at a number of museums including the Ashville Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta,...
, Joel Seah, The Chadwick's, Mitchell Gaudet, Kahn and Selesnick
Kahn and Selesnick
Kahn & Selesnick, Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, both born 1964, are a collaborative artist team who work primarily in the fields of photography and installation art. They specialize in fictitious histories set in both the past and future...
, Mona Hatoum
Mona Hatoum
Mona Hatoum is a video artist and installation artist of Palestinian origin, who lives in London.- Lebanon :...
, Beatrice Coron, Kelly Grider, Laura Gilbert, among others.
The exhibition was curated by Jon Coffelt
Jon Coffelt
Johnny Lee Coffelt born is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City. Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts and curates art exhibitions.-Background:...
and Maddy Rosenberg
Maddy Rosenberg
Madeline Rosenberg is an American artist who divides her time between Brooklyn and Europe. She has an active exhibition and freelance curatorial career and is now the director of Central Booking in DUMBO, Brooklyn, New York. Rosenberg received a BFA from Cornell University and her MFA from Bard...
for Central Booking in Brooklyn, NY.
Quotes
- Captivated by the similarities to her childhood home in the rural South, Karen Graffeo has lived with and photographed the Rom (gypsy) people for over six years. The photographs of the Roma in their encampments present a series of places that are simultaneously foreign and familiar to the viewer. -M. K. Matalon
- Through these documentary photographs, she portrays a culture that is followed by stereotypes as one full of complexity, beauty and strength. Graffeo writes, “I hope [these] images show the truth, tenderness and wonderful contradictions of this culture of brilliant survivors.”
Awards
- Graffeo is the recipient of grants from the Alabama Arts Council, the Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
Foundation through Space One Eleven and the Tuscaloosa Arts Council. - The 2005-2006 University Scholar award went to Karen Graffeo, an assistant professor of art.
- Graffeo received regional artist project grant from the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Books
- "The Distance from the Heart of Things" by Ashley Warlick, Mariner Books, 1997 Cover by Graffeo (ISBN 0395860318)
- "UpSouth" by bell hooksBell hooksGloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, Emma Amos and Antoinette Spanos Nordan, University Press, University of Alabama, Birmingham, 1999, pp 70–73 - "Visions of Angels: 35 Photographers Share Their Images" by Bloncourt, Nelson & Engelmann, Karen, 1998 (ISBN 1556708548)
External links
- Performance work Making Brides with the Help of a South Wind with Craig Hultgren 1996
- "Tolerant Eyes: Systems of Survival" University of Alabama at BirminghamUniversity of Alabama at BirminghamThe University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
, Birmingham, Alabama - Kheth, library catalog, Florence Italy
- Press Release for "From the Artist's Studio"
- Rom (gypsy) work