Karen Knorr was one of the most significant postmodernists to emerge from the radical photography department of the Polytechnic of Central London in the early 1980s. In a similar but different way to Barbara Kruger Knorr uses image and text together to refer to particular attitudes which are classed (Belgravia) as much as they are sexed (Gentlemen). In her response to the question of why she uses text and image Knorr quotes from Barthes’ The Rhetoric of image. He describes the linguistic message in relation to the photograph: ‘Anchorage’ ties meaning down by answering questions like ‘What is it?’ text explains the image and opens it up to other meanings that are not apparent or visible in the photograph. Another interesting explanation for her use of image and text is that the two together slow down the spectators pace of consumption, creating a slow-motion reading which leaves room for reflection. Strangely, Knorr compares her work to that of Jacob A. Riis. This was a strange comparison for me at first but, it is documentary photography of a group that is almost invisible to those outside their circle. Only in this case it is of high British culture and not low American immigrants on the lower East side. The main difference is in the way knorr uses text to parody her subject and enables us to see them in another not so bright light. In this sense I would also compare her work to that of William Hogarths satirical depictions of high society.
Reading: 'Illuminatons' Women writing on Photography From 1850's to the present.
Edited by Liz Heron and Val Williams 1996
Interview with Karen Knorr: Fetishism of Black-and White and he Vulgarity of Colour
(First published in Marks of Distincion, Thames and Hudson, London, 1991, pp 124-31)
Images: Fig 1.
Fig 2.
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