Laura Parnes

Laura Parnes serves as Visiting Critic in the Department of Art at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning for fall 2025. An acclaimed multi-platform artist, her lens-based projects fuse comedy with pathos to probe social and political trauma through narrative film and digital art traditions.

Her research interrogates cultural production and societal malaise through darkly comedic narratives of trauma and repressed memory, drawing from mass-culture experiences and youthful rites of passage. Parnes' work critically examines the dynamics of artistic communities, particularly New York City's underground music and art scenes, using historical and literary references to dissect cultural trauma within youth-driven industries.

Analysis of her major works like "Tour Without End" reveals consistent engagement with political commentary and documentation of rapidly disappearing cultural landscapes, especially focusing on gentrification's impact on DIY music spaces in New York City.

Her scientific awards include:

• 2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
• 2016 Creative Capital Award
• 2014 New York Foundation for the Arts Award

Parnes has secured significant grant funding from The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, and the New York State Council on the Arts (via Wave Farm's Media Arts Assistance Fund) to support her projects. Her work has been exhibited internationally at prestigious venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, with broadcasts on PBS and Spanish Television.