Karen Bullock

Karen is known for her documentary-style photographs of the American South, with a focus on expressions of faith, considerations of home, and the enduring spirit of nature. Primarily lens-based, her practice uses vivid color and light to explore the unheard voice via gesture, sense of place, and mood.

Featured in Lenscratch, Karen’s project, Presence Obscured, was selected for PhotoNola's Currents at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Atlanta Photography Group’s Portfolio 2020, and PhotoLucida’s Critical Mass Top 200. Her series, See Me, was included in the Rfotofolio's Selections. Her work has been featured in over 30 exhibitions and various publications.

Most of her photographs are made during road trips. Sometimes Karen travels solo but since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2021, she prefers to go with other photographer friends when taking longer trips. In 2023, Karen and her husband took a three-month cross-country road trip in a mini camper with their two dogs. She made photographs almost every day.

In addition to photography, Karen enjoys curating and collaborating to create group installations that foster community.

Artist Statement:

Through photography, I express my own voice and also question: What is the earth saying, the rain, the swaying live oaks, the places which contain stories within their walls?

The poem, “What if We Were Alone” by William Stafford is often in my thoughts: “In the river all night a voice floats from rock to sandbar, to log. What kind of listening can follow quietly enough? We bow, and the voice through the rapids calls all the rocks by their secret name.”

I wonder what that voice might be saying to us if only we could understand.

I am awed by the fact that trees and plants communicate with each other. Animals also have their own language. What if we could understand these conversations?

When I walk into an old church or a place where people have gathered through the years, and it is quiet--I can almost feel their conversations in my bones, and I become curious.

With my camera, I create space for the imagination to ponder what those voices might be saying to us through expressions, sense of place, or a moment in time.