Karen Graffeo is a multi-media artist working within photography, performance, and installation. She is a Professor Emeritus of Art and directed the photography program for the University of Montevallo in Alabama. There she was named University Scholar for her long-term documentary work in Roma communities and refugee encampments. She received the Southeastern College Art Fellowship in 2019 for her project “Witness: LGBTQ2 Cuba” which includes the work of Sonja Rieger and Carolyn Sherer. She is a Tanne Foundation award recipient for humanitarian projects within her art practice. In 2013 she was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar appointment in Romania.

She writes of her work and her history:
“I am a southern “prodigal daughter” born in south Mississippi. I traveled extensively and have chosen to live and work within cultures that both match and contrast my heritage. I consider my art to be cultural diplomacy devoted to trust and story. I currently live and work in Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia.”

Guest artist appointments have included Duke University, the National Library of Havana Cuba, The School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan, the Museum of African History Havana, the Academy of Art and Design in Cluj Napoca Romania, and the Belfast Art Academy in Northern Ireland. Notable publications include Aperture Magazine, Volume 115; “Connections: Karen Graffeo and Jim Neel” Huntsville Museum of Art, exhibition catalogue and the monograph by Bell Hooks, Ema Amos and Antoinette Norman titled “Upsouth” for the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham.