These eye-catching images from the photographer Karen Knorr‘s series, India Song, place animals in various sacred spaces across India. Tigers recline on beds or proudly laze like kings amid resplendent settings. There’s a monkey sitting atop an elephant against a backdrop of vividly painted walls, a peacock in a room painted the same shade of blue and green as its feathers, and a variety of other birds – all in domestic, interior spaces, where we’re not used to seeing them. Though Knorr’s photographs (which we discovered at Beautiful/Decay) offer a sumptuous, mesmerizing beauty, it’s hard to tell whether these aesthetically engaging images are perpetuating or critiquing a particular stereotype of India. Is Knorr challenging the West’s exoticized notions of the country, or is she complicit in propagating these ideals? Click through to decide for yourself, and visit Knorr’s website to see more of her work.
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr
Photo credit: Karen Knorr