Biography

Karina Haake is a multidisciplinary artist based in London and Madrid. Her textile work is influenced by theatre, dream, surrealism, cultural myth and fairytale, always guided by her profound passion for colour and light, whilst also reflecting her love of visualising and interpreting text.

Following a bilingual education in London, she  started her career in theatre after graduating with a BA in Performing Arts, co-founding Tell Tale Theatre, with their focus on European theatre. She devised and directed several touring children and community productions incorporating Commedia dell’arte, puppetry and circus, touring schools, theatres and festivals in the UK and France.

Focussing later on Scandinavian drama, Karina adapted and directed Strindberg’s A Dream Play, using a diversity of theatre forms, combining striking text, original music and powerful imagery, ‘..makes one suspect that Tristan Tzara has come to town.’ (The Stage). She translated and adapted Ibsen’s A Doll’s House for the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, ‘ a radical new translation which gives us fresh colloquial dialogue.. a gutsy harrowing show that picks up on there being two moral laws, two kinds of conscience, one for men and one for women.’ (The Guardian).

She then continued her career in EFL teaching and consultancy which took her to Spain, Italy, Latin America and India, and in London presented for BBC English on the World Service. She was researcher in Life Writing at Butetown History & Arts Centre, Cardiff, collaborating on many exhibitions such as Mothers and Daughters: Portraits from Multi-Ethnic Wales, which included her film project about her own mother’s journey, Love In The Time Of TB.

Returning to London to study Textile Art, Karina completed Advanced Textiles at The City Lit in December 2020 (between lockdowns!) with an exhibition at the Espacio Gallery, London, featuring Childwood and Aurora Borealis. She is a member of textiles 2020.

The Traveller’s Case, her new series, combines embroidery and embellishing with found text and paper to create miniature personalised story cases, and is currently available for commission.