Monogatari

• Prize
  Silver in Architecture/Interiors, Gold in Fine Art/Collage
• Photographer
  Karen Knorr

Karen Knorr's photography developed a critical and playful dialogue with documentary photography using different visual and textual strategies to explore her chosen subject matter - these range from the family and lifestyle to the animal and its representation in context of national cultural heritage . "Monogatari, a new series started in 2012 follows from "Fables"and" India Song".In its methodology using photomontage with photoshop it refers to Japanese heritage and myth. Animals appear on elegant architectures that Knorr has discovered in the Japanese classic novel, Tale of Genji, famous written by Murasaki Shikibu, a courtesan from the Heian era, over the course of the 10th century. These temples are still visible throughout Kyoto and a lot of them contain gorgeous golden screens painted by the famous Kanō school of painters." "This work also refers to the popular tale’s fantastic world. Animals look like" "yōkai, ghosts and supernatural monsters which belong to folklore. They may possess animal like features or othertimes they can appear mostly human or take the shape of an inanimate object. Women wearing kimonos, who sometimes accompany them in the stagings, corroborate the omnipresence of the tradition in Japan.