karen elaine spencer holds a master’s degree in visual and media arts from the Université du Québec à Montréa (UQAM). Through ephemeral interventions, paintings, drawings, prints, and oral or textual creations, the artist explores the power relations infiltrating the daily lives of individuals, particularly those marginalized by their social conditions. Her interest in text and speech stems from a preoccupation with intelligibility, with the translation of one reality into another, and with the complexity inherent in all forms of representation.

Since receiving her master’s from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 2001, spencer has benefited from numerous international residencies, including at the International Contemporary Art Symposium of Baie-Saint-Paul (2015), the International Studio and Curatorial program in Brooklyn (2012) and the Cité internationale des arts in Paris (2005). Recent solo exhibitions include walkin’ with cohen at Verticale — centre d’artistes (Laval, 2023), enveloping self i smell memory at Galerie Sans Nom, Moncton (New Brunswick, 2018), and letters home/lettres à ma mère at Galerie B-312 in Montreal (2015). 
Spencer’s works are included in the Galerie de l’Université de Montréal, the Musée d’art de Joliette, the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and corporate and private collections in France, Canada and the United States, among others. In 2022, spencer was awarded the Prix Louis-Comtois (AGAC), a prize honoring an artist who has distinguished themself on the Montreal contemporary art scene over the past 15 years.

Title: always the same (from the series: letters home/lettres à ma mère)
Year: 2013
Dimensions: 56 x 76 cm
Medium: Ink on acid-free Arches paper
Frame: lacquered white maple wood. Low-reflective art glass, 70% UV protection, framed by Richard Contant
Price: $ 5 000 (framed)

An interview with the artist is available in English and French on our website.