By Holly Beretto

For Discovery Green Art Fellow Karen Navarro, art was in her heritage, but it wasn’t until she lost the ability to communicate in words that the desire to create emerged.

Originally from an artistic family in Argentina, Karen Navarro studied fashion design at the University of Buenos Aires. When she arrived in the United States in 2015, she didn’t speak English. Photography became a way for Navarro to communicate and explore her new home. Houston Center for Photography offered a one-year certificate program, and Navarro enrolled, using those 12 months to practice her English, and photography to share her thoughts and emotions.

“I fell in love with the way you can create in that medium, how you can say a lot with just an image,” she said.

Saying a lot has become important for her. As she began her experience as a Discovery Green Art Lab Fellow in September of 2024, Navarro was also beginning a journey into motherhood. Her daughter was born in July. Being a parent changed how she looks at life and the world around her. It’s also changed her sense of self.

“I am of Indigenous descent and I didn’t know this until I was older and it took me a while to identify myself as an indigenous,” she explained. “I was thinking about this when I was pregnant, about how I want my daughter to know about her roots and be proud.”

She began documenting her pregnancy, and her art fused the concepts of European beauty and power with Indigenous themes. Navarro found herself inserting people of Indigenous descent into what she says is “the place of history that they have not had until today.”

The approach broadened the scope of her work and her own self-discovery.

“My work primarily uses color and methods of deconstruction, fragmentation and reconfiguration of imagery to tell personal and collective histories of erasure,” she explained in her letter applying to the Art Fellows Program.

Consider her Fragmentos and Despojo pieces. The portraits juxtapose the strong, proud stances of a man and woman, with small diamond-shaped cutouts missing from part of their clothing. These cutouts then reappear in the work’s background. It’s a literal representation of something removed that nevertheless persists. Another of her pieces, Subject #6 Variation 1, is an image featuring three men that begins as a photo, pixelated into squares. The final result looks like the men are simultaneously front-and-center of the piece, as well as receding.

“Since I was kind of processing my own identity and trying to understand it, I was using others as a way to reflect,” she said. “I have always been interested in giving a space to people of underrepresented populations. I feel like right now, since I’ve been taking the time to process and to understand my own identity, I’m continuing to explore topics of race and diversity.”

When Navarro learned of the Discovery Green Art Lab program she realized it was an opportunity to lean into her desire to leave a legacy that celebrates the family’s diversity and history to her daughter, and also deepen her artistic endeavors.

“I thought this opportunity was perfect because there is a part of it where you are being mentored by someone working in the field, and you also get the chance to solidify your ideas and work very professionally.”

Navarro plans to continue her work with photography, but will use this opportunity to branch further into 3D and interactive work. Navarro’s sculptures are made with a base of photography, wood, paint and resin. While her photography has been displayed around the world, her sculpture has not. For Navarro, the Discovery Green project is a natural next step in her evolution as an artist.

“My work is usually portraiture,” she said. “It’s fragmented into many, many pieces, and these pieces sometimes can be rearranged. The idea for the new piece is that I will create something  that people can interact with by changing  the image, rearranging it and mixing and creating the image they want.”

That, she said, would give people a tangible experience of art, allowing them to discover their own stories within the work. It’s that act of drawing people into her work that intrigues her. It’s both an act of creation and an invitation.

“In the studio, I’m the one who rearranged the image,” she said. “I decide. But it’s not something that someone can do when the piece is being exhibited. My idea is to translate that part of the process that I do in the studio and let it open up so people can play with the image and create their own.”

Those who eventually interact with her work may well find themselves in Navarro’s pieces. That’s because representation is an important component of what she wants to create. Representation she knows will allow her daughter to better understand where she comes from, and where her legacy begins. But it’s also a way for others to see that public art is alive and evolving, offering connection and expanding the opportunity for more people’s stories.

“Representation is very important, and I know my work is not going to change everyone’s minds,” she said. “But I think it’s going to be a door, an invitation, for anyone who wants to come in and have a discussion. I’m hoping that the invitation takes people to talk deeper about the work.”

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Karen Navarro is a fellow in the inaugural year of Discovery Green’s Art Lab – a groundbreaking mentorship program designed to support Houston artists seeking to create large-scale, multi-dimensional, public art.

“The Art Lab program grew out of Houstonians love for the large-scale, interactive art installation Discovery Green Conservancy has presented at the park since opening 16 years ago,” said President Kathryn Lott. “With Art Lab we seek to elevate the voices, ideas, and visions of artists from Houston onto the national public art landscape. Our goal is to keep connecting Houstonians and visitors with thought-provoking artworks, while creating opportunities for talented artists in our own backyard.”

The program is co-curated and co-created by Weingarten Art Group.

“As an artist dedicated to pushing the boundaries from two-dimensional image-making into sculptural works in the public realm, Karen Navarro presented an ideal inaugural candidate for the Art Lab Fellowship,” said Lea Weingarten, Principal of Weingarten Art Group. “This program is empowering her to expand her vision in bold, unexplored directions – providing the financial resources and expertise for her evolution from traditional photography to 3D interactive large-scale artwork.”

Applications for a pop-up art installation at Discovery Green is open now. You can read the full request for proposals and learn more about Art Lab at www.discoverygreen.com/artlab.