Karen Kodish

Karen was born in Portsmouth. She was brought up in London and was working in Stockport in IT when she moved to Milton Keynes. She moved because her company was relocating to the area. All she knew about Milton Keynes was the roundabouts and concrete cows. She’s been in the same flat in Shenley Lodge since she moved in 2005. She likes the accessibility and calm vibe. She didn’t stay with the company, but became a photographer specialising in people, pets and parties.

She’s gender fluid and identifies as a gay woman. She came out at 18 in London and, through the Lesbian/Gay Switchboard, found the Jewish Lesbian and Gay Youth group. The other helpline at the time was called London Friend. Her mother and brother were accepting when she came out, but her father had tears.

She’s neurodivergent and lives quietly. Her journey to discover her neurodivergence started in 2017, but it was later that she did her own research, was assessed and then diagnosed. A year later she was also diagnosed with ADHD and these diagnoses transformed her life. She sees a huge overlap between the neurodivergent and the LGBT+, especially the trans, community. She believes that neurodiversity is an area that needs more support.

The LGBT+ community became important when she was ‘wandering in the wilderness’ after leaving her job. The Entertainers pub, Q:alliance and the Milton Keynes Lesbian social group gave her the sense of community she wanted, although she also remembered Pink Punters and Blueprint bar. She tried to set up a café when The Entertainers folded, but it didn’t come off. She believes safe spaces are vital for the LGBTQ+ community and remembers going to the Lesbian and Gay Centre in London when she wouldn’t have gone to gatherings that weren’t specifically for the community. She rates Milton Keynes as really safe.

More generally, she finds Milton Keynes open, clean and friendly. She feels she has more of an identity and is better connected to others. She underutilises the green spaces but has Furzton Lake, Shenley Wood and Howe Park Wood nearby. She also likes Caldecotte Lake.

For the future she sees Milton Keynes ending up like other big cities: tall buildings, all about capitalism and fewer green spaces. Therefore it’s important for the Museum to tell the story of Milton Keynes before it changes and to do so in an accessible way. She didn’t have a view about how the Museum should display the LGBTQ+ stories.

She has a special memory of celebrating her 40^th birthday at The Marlin in Great Linford, but that was also the year she suffered a heart attack. She has special memories of working with Anouar at Milton Keynes Islamic Arts Culture covering Art in the Park, of Stony Live and of many culturally diverse events.

Her involvement with Q:alliance, led to photographing events. She photographed Celebrate, which started as a march from Cornerstone to Campbell Park with speeches and the Rainbow Bus. That morphed into the early MK Pride in 2012. A new team created what the current MK Pride and she doesn’t do photographs for it.

The arts world in Milton Keynes was the making of her. She discovered Arts Gateway and the Arts Gateway Mingles in 2009-10, where she took along a camera and got to know people. Then Arts Central started in 2013 and she was one of the original residents on the third floor of Station House. She stayed a resident through the move to Norfolk House and until it closed in 2017-18. Back in 2011, Lucy from the Council gave her a job to photograph Arts and Heritage Open Spaces, including Stony Live, and that opened so many doors. Arts Gateway and Lucy were the catalyst that helped her create the life she has now.