Karen Lamassonne
As a woman it’s up to you to make yourself, especially as a Latin American woman. My work was a way of inventing myself.
The work of Karen Lamassonne (1954, United States) offers a personal and feminine view of the world. Working with a variety of media such as drawing, watercolor, photography, collage and video, she creates works based on her own experiences. Having lived and worked in both Colombia and the United States, her work explores notions of identity, belonging, domesticity, and desire. Lamassonne works from an intimate, open, and even public perspective. Although some have described her work as erotic, her true focus on the social and cultural construction of the female body. Rather than presenting women as objects of desire, Lamassonne portrays them as individuals with their own desires and agency.
In the 1980’s, Lamassone lived in Cali, Colombia - a defining period for her career. There, she became part of the vibrant artist and filmmaker collective known as "The Grupo de Cali”. During this period, she combined her cinematographic experience to create works in photography and video. At the same time, she expanded her painting practice with Art Direction, Costume Design, Editing and Acting in different national and international productions.
