My Story

Karen Ghostlaw
Submission
July 6, 2021
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As a woman that had four children, home birthed two of the four and homeschooled all through high school, Karen's creative output is to inspire others and provide a platform for creative and independent thinking. This daunting task came with more rewards than sacrifices, and Karen found that sacrifice leads to growth. As the children grew and became independent learners, Karen found herself again, with time and energy to focus on herself while guiding the children through their studies throughout the day. She found herself again through her photography, looking at herself, a study that started twelve years ago and continues today. Self-studies made her more confident in her personal view of herself. The reflections helped her see herself and the importance of her place in the world and environment around her. Each portrait addresses a multitude of interesting and complex layers. She herself, her body language, where she is, what is happening around her, how she feels, what she hears, what she smells, compelled by all her senses. Like a voyeur looking at everything as if in a hologram, all components static and moving in that single moment line up rhythmically, becoming one cohesive image. Karen sees herself in life's abstractions, adapting and finding inspiration in their uncertainties. She reflects her soul while reacting to the environment around her, weaving the layers together to create tapestries of her life. All these images are single exposures, not photoshopped, and the abstractions are achieved through the lens.

About
Karen Ghostlaw Karen Ghostlaw is a BFA honour graduate of Pratt Institute with a concentration in Photography, Printmaking and Bookbinding. Karen was a Photography Scholarship recipient and published in "Newsweek On Campus" stating her work to be somewhere "Between Painting and Photography", which has become her lifelong study. Under the tutelage of William Gedney, Philip Perkis, Arthur Freed, Nina Prantis and Ann Mandelbaum, Karen studied 35mm and 4x5 large format photography, black and white, colour, dye transfer, and emulsion processes including gum bichromate and platinum palladium. Karen chooses not to see challenges, but opportunities to rediscover familiar landscapes with new ideas and vision, a unique balance between real, abstraction, and reflectivity, expanding her ongoing exploration in "Between Painting and Photography".
Karen Ghostlaw
Submission
July 6, 2021
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