Karen Cunningham is an artist whose practice blends photography and diverse printmaking techniques to reframe everyday subjects. Her work spans a wide range of themes—capturing ordinary objects, individuals, and urban street scenes concerning community, culture, healthcare equity, the migration crisis, and interpersonal relationships.
Cunningham graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in photography. She also holds a BSN from the SUNY Downstate College of Nursing and spent over a decade working as a critical care nurse at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Her documentary photography has been featured in prominent publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, People, and The Daily News.
Her print work has been extensively exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, and the New-York Historical Society. Most recently, she was recognized as an Individual Artist Finalist in Printmaking by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Cunningham lives and works in Princeton, NJ with her husband.