09/12/2026
Congratulations to gallery artist Karen Navarro on her residency at Crystal Bridges.
The artist-in-residence program supports artists in both the exploration of new frontiers and in the creation of new work. The Momentary invites artists working across disciplines to Bentonville, Arkansas, to work alongside a world-class support team of producers, preparators, and curators as they explore, experiment, research, and develop new work. As the Momentary grows as a welcoming hub that gathers and celebrates local heroes and international stars, we invite you to get to know the art of this moment.
Karen Navarro is an Argentinian artist based in Houston, of Mapuche, Guaraní, and European descent. Working across photography, collage, and sculpture, her practice examines the intersections of identity, race, representation, and belonging through the lenses of migration, Indigenous identity, and the enduring legacies of colonization. Navarro’s work engages the complexities of cultural hybridity, communication technologies, and the politics of beauty, creating visual spaces that affirm presence, acceptance, and embodied existence.
Navarro is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Artadia Fellowship, the Top Ten LensCulture Critics’ Choice Award, and the Houston Center for Photography Beth Block Honoraria. In 2026, she was the inaugural artist-in-residence at PAC Art, alongside Claudia Alarcón and Silät. In 2024, she was an artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Artsin New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. Selected exhibitions include the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Artpace, Galerija Upuluh, the George Washington Carver Museum, the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts, the Holocaust Museum Houston, and Melkweg Expo.
Navarro’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including ARTnews, The Guardian, The Observer, and Rolling Stone Italia.
Message us for a list of available works by Karen Navarro.