New York photographer Karen Marshall documents social issues. By focusing on the psychological lives of her subjects, she has worked on a series of visual stories that contemplate familial relationships and convey ideas about people and place within the cultural landscape.
Her seminal study, Between Girls: A Passage To Womanhood, articulates the coming of age of a group of urban middle class teenagers, following them from high school into adulthood 30 years later. Her interest in establishing new frameworks for the documentary genre has led Marshall to create an exhibition based on this project that uses traditional black and white photographs, book making, video and audio in conjunction with community programming.
Marshall is the recipient of artist fellowships and sponsorships through the New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as grants and support from private foundations. Her photographs have been exhibited in the United States, the Philippines, British Columbia, Israel, Colombia, and China, and are part of several collections, including the Feminist Artbase at The Brooklyn Museum. Her images have appeared in publications in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Karen Marshall who holds an MFA in New Media (Transart Institute/Donau Universitat Krems, Austria) lectures frequently and is a committed mentor. She is a seminar leader in the fulltime Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at The International Center of Photography where she has been on the faculty for the past 20 years. She is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at New York University, mentors MFA candidates at the Maine Media Workshops, and teaches independent workshops in the United States, China, Germany, and Italy.
