Karen Olsen

Artist Statement

Coherence emerged from a series of conversations—one leading quietly into another, then another—until I found myself far from where I had begun. I felt carried by an unseen current toward a new understanding of myself. At first, everything seemed to turn upside down and inside out. Then, slowly, fragments of memory began to gather into pattern.

Experiences once held as confusion, sensitivity, or contradiction started to reveal a deeper coherence. What had long felt scattered was not scattered at all—only differently organized. For many people, neurodivergence is still imagined through a narrow lens. But countless ways of perceiving, sensing, relating, and moving through the world exist. This work emerges from the experience of receiving a late diagnosis of autism and looking back across a lifetime through that new light.

UNFOLDING

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
9" x 8" x 7

BECOMING WHOLE

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
7" x 8" x 6"

SIGNAL THROUGH TIME

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
9" x 8" x 7"

GATHERING

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
5" x 10" x 7"

SOFTENING

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
6" x 6 "x 4.5"

GATHERING SELF

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
5.5" x 7" x 3"

WHEN ATTENTION HOLDS

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
7" x 10" x 7"

IN CONVERSATION

Artist-made abaca paper with Himalayan Balsam Lace paper inclusion, pigment print on kozo paper, cold wax, linen thread,
4.4" x 7" x 4"