Solo Exhibition: Karen Duncan Pape
Date(s) - 10/13/2026 - 11/06/2026
Time(s) - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Karen Duncan Pape
Time(s) - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location
Atlanta Photography Group
Karen Duncan Pape
Leavings
The Atlanta Photography Group is excited to present
Karen Duncan Pape’s Leavings
as our 13th solo exhibition in the Maloof Gallery.
Artist Statement
Last summer as I researched my ancestors, I began to understand the power of exponential genetic dispersal. Those who have chosen to have children are expanded and diffused over generations. I am still connected to my ninth great grandparents through tiny bits of code, although it is diluted and reimagined in a seemingly infinite variety of ways.
But what does that mean as we look backwards? Are we just bits of other people’s code, mere reinventions of old memories? Is any part of us unique?
I recently read in The Atlantic that each conception moment contains about a hundred thousand billion different possible combinations of DNA. So, with a quixotic, relieved and resounding “yes!” I agree with the writer Alan Lightman that we ARE, in fact, wonderfully unique, just like the ancestors in these images.
My early vivid experiences with Déjà vu tell me that it is also conceivable that genetic memory will be discovered to exist, and that, maybe, bits of our memory are passed along among those many possible DNA combinations. Perhaps that is what makes me tear up at the sound of a lonely Appalachian fiddle or the cry of the mourning dove. I believe that these memories are among the many gifts the people in these images bestowed on me. It ties me to their code and their lives.
“Leavings” involved making chlorophyl prints on tree leaves indigenous to the valley where my family lived for 200 years. I photographed the leaves as they dried and disintegrated over several months and created scrolls of five images each. The process was intimate as there were many failed attempts due to heat, punctuated by endless rain, and I began to feel these people speaking to me, telling me their stories, and imprinting their memories on me.
Images are printed with archival pigment inks on Hahnemuhle Rag Baryta or Hemp, depending upon image size.
Karen Duncan Pape |www.karenduncanpape.com |@papekaren
Karen Duncan Pape is a fine art photographer living and working in the southern United States. She retired from a career in business in 2019 in order to pursue her love of photography. Recent shows have included “In the Deep Heart’s Core” at the Vault at Chroma Arts Gallery in Charlottesville, and “De-Circulated”, a project on banned books, which premiered at McGuffey Arts Center in Charlottesville, VA, and then travelled to Blue Raven Gallery in Rockland, Maine, the Library Institute in New Haven, CT, and returned to the University of Virginia Law School Library for the 2024-2025 academic year. Her most recent show was an exhibit called “Elegy” at Angelo’s in Charlotteville. Excerpts from “Speaking the Bones” was included as part of the Loneliness Project at Los Angeles Center for Photography, January, 2026 and at Ella, En Foco in Santiago de Chile in March, 2026.
Individual images have been included in group shows at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City Texas, Praxis Gallery in St, Paul, Minnesota, D’art in Denver Colorado and Norfolk, VA, Southeast Center for Photography and the Houston Center for Photography. Her work has been collected by both individuals and institutions.
She is currently enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts Program in Visual Arts at Maine Media in Rockport, Maine.
Solo Exhibitions:
The Geography of , Grief, 2017, Piedmont Virginia Community College, recipient of annual show award
Dreams of Africa, March 2019, Speak!, Charlottesville, VA
From the Deep Heart’s Core, April, 2023, Chroma Arts Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
De-Circulated, McGuffey Art Center, January, 2024
De-Circulated, Blue Raven Gallery, Rockland, Maine, April 2024
De-Circulated, The Library Institute, New Haven Connecticut, Summer, 2024
De-Circulated, University of Virginia Mortimer Caplin Law School Library, 2024-2025
Elegy, Angelo’s Gallery, Charlottesville, VA 2025
Group Exhibitions
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, “Vistas”, George Nobechi, Juror, 2021
Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “Landscapes”, 2021 D’Art Gallery, Denver, Colorado, “Conceptual Images”, 2022
Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “Poetic Storytelling”, May, 2023
D’Art Gallery, Norfolk , Virginia, “Portrayed: d’Art’s Third Annual Juried Exhibition of Portraiture, June, 2023
Southeast Center for Photography, Contemporary Landscapes, Stephen Johnson, Juror, 2023
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, ”Portal” Crista Dix, Juror, 2023
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, “Water”, Catherine Couterier, Juror, 2025
Houston Center for Photography 42nd Annual Center exhibition, Dr. Rebecca Senf, Juror, 2025
Southeast Center for Photography, Telling Tales, Frances Jakubek, Juror, 2025
Loneliness, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Rotem Rozel, Curator (40 artists), 2026
March-September, 2026 – Ella, En Foco, Santiago de Chile, Maria Caichhiolo, Curator, 2026.
Upcoming, Reservoir Year 2, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Rotem Rozel, Curator (27 artists), 2027
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Event Dates
Exhibition:
October 13 – November 6, 2026
In-Person Open House/Reception
October 15, 2026, 7-9pm ET
1544 Piedmont Ave NE, #107, Atlanta, GA 30324
Located between LA Fitness and CVS Pharmacy
