In a search that began with her own family’s
images, Novak sought to examine the question of
how photographs shape our memories. InCollected
Visions 2000, her innovative exploration of perso-
nal and cultural memory (through the often casual
and fragmented family snapshot) culminates in a
collection of memories, family photographs, and
photo essays that examine and reinforce our sense
of common history. Her photographs and installa-
tions have been exhibited at institutions such as the
International Center of Photography, The Center
for Creative Photography at the University of Ari-
zona, Tucson, and the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Chicago, and in many group exhibitions,
including the Museum of Modern Art, New
York, and the Art Institute of Chicago. As of this
writing, she is the Chair and Associate Professor of
the Photography and Imaging Department at Tisch
School of the Arts at New York University.
KAYKennySeealso:Family Photography; Vernacular Photo-
graphy
Biography
Born in 1954 in Los Angeles, California. Attended Univer-
sity of Los Angeles, 1971–1973. Received BA in Art and
Psychology from Stanford University in 1975, MFA
from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1979.
Adjunct Faculty at New York University Tisch School
of the Arts 1986–1991. Associate Professor of the
Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch
1991, and Chair 1999 to present. Co-director of Urban
Ensemble through which Tisch School of the Arts stu-
dents engage in community-based arts projects. A New
York Foundation of the Arts Artist in Residence for the
Washington Houses Community Center After School
Program, New York, N.Y., 1988–1990. National En-
dowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in
Photography; 1990, Lewis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
Grant Polaroid Corporation Materials Grant, 1978–
1980, Phelan Award, Photography, San Francisco
Foundation, 1982, and residencies at Jacob’s Pillow
Dance Festival Yaddo, 1988, 1983, Djerassi Foundation,
Woodside California, 1990, Rockefeller Foundation’s
Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy, 1997, and MacDowell
Artist Colony, 2000, 1997, and 1990. Lives in Brooklyn,
New York.
Individual Exhibitions
1980 S.F. Camerawork; San Francisco, California
1981 Arco Center for the Visual Arts; Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia
1982 University of Rhode Island; Kingston, Rhode Island
1985 Stanford University Museum of Art; Stanford, Cali-
fornia
Film in the Cities; St. Paul, Minnesota
Tampa Museum of Art; Tampa, Florida
1990 Projections, Photographs 1983–1990; Madison Art
Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Critical Distance; Addison Gallery of American Art,
Andover, Massachusetts
1991 Traces: A Site Specific Projected Installation; Museum
of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, and The Uni-
versity Art Museum, California State University, Long
Beach, California
Portland School of Art; Portland, Maine
1993 Breda Fotografica; De Beyerd Museum, Breda, The
Netherlands (Slide installationPlayback and photo-
graphs)
Collected Visions 1; Commissioned Slide/Music
Installation with Music by Elizabeth Brown, Houston
Center for Photography, Houston, Texas
1994 Rhode Island School of Design; Providence, Rhode
Island
1996 Playback; Manchester Craftsman’s Guild, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
1996 Collected Visions on the Web; World Wide Web
project sponsored by the Center for Advanced Technol-
ogy at New York University, http://cvisions.cat.nyu.
edu
1998 Connecticut Visions; World Wide Web project com-
missioned by the CT Historical Society, http://www.ctvi
sions.org
2000 Collected Visions: A Computer-based Installation;
International Center of Photography Midtown, New
York, New York; 2001, Zilka Gallery, Wesleyan Uni-
versity, Middletown, Connecticut
2001 Lorie Novak. Photographs 1983–2000andCollected
Visions: A Computer-based Installation; Center for Crea-
tive Photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson,
ArizonaSelected Group Exhibitions
1984 Color Photographs, Recent Acquisitions; Museum of
Modern Art, New York, New York
1987 Photography on the Edge; Haggerty Museum, Milwau-
kee, Wisconsin
Visual Paradox; John Michael Kohler Art Center,
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Family Portraits; Wright State University, Dayton,
Ohio
1989 The Presence of Absence: New Installations; Circulated
by Independent Curators Inc., New York, New York
1991 The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort;
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; 1992–
1993, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland;
Los Angeles County Art Museum, Los Angeles, Califor-
nia; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Imaging the Family. Photographs by Tina Barney, Lorie
Novak, and Larry Sultan; David Winton Bell Gallery,
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Re:memory—Picturing the Private Past; Birmingham
Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
Sequence(con)Sequence; Bard College, Annandale-
on-Hudson, New York
The Photography of Invention: American Pictures of the
1980s; National Museum of American Art, Washington,
D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Illinois,;
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MinnesotaNOVAK, LORIE