Lee Karen Stow

Lee Karen Stow

Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom

About Lee Karen Stow

Documentary photographer and photographic artist based in England, UK. Since 2007 when I met women in Sierra Leone displaced by a decade of civil war, I have devoted my photographic practice to recording the personal narratives of women of war, conflict and genocide. Along the way I photographed the red common cornflower poppy (Papaver rhoeas) as a personal response to forgotten women of war. This body of work is inspired by two forgotten women of war: American volunteer war worker Moïna Belle Michael who, in November 1918, conceived the red poppy of the In Flanders Fields war poem as a symbol of remembrance; and French war worker Madame Anna Guérin who introduced the poppy remembrance symbol to Britain in 1921. Here is a small selection of works from my touring exhibition Poppies: Women, War, Peace which combines a portrait series of women whose lives have been affected by war with a botanical series of the red poppy in its natural environment.

Education:

Awarded Honorary Degree (D Litt) by the University of Hull, UK for photojournalism. Completing Masters by Research in Journalism at the School of Journalism, University of Lincoln, UK.

Events:

Poppies: Women, War, Peace currently on show at The Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Georgia.

Exhibitions:

UN Headquarters New York; Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, US; University of Georgia, US; International Slavery Museum, Liverpool; University of Cambridge; Royal Commonwealth Society, London; Horniman Museum, London; The Senedd: Welsh National Assembly; Museum of Liverpool; York Army Museum; University of Hull, The Ferens, Hull. Recent installation TORN appeared at Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Two images in the New Hall Art Collection, University of Cambridge.