Tina Bara (born 18 March 1962, in

Kleinmachnow Kleinmachnow is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated south-west of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf and east of Potsdam. First mentioned in the Landbuch of Karl IV in 1375, the Kleinmachno ...

) is a German photographer who began her career in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Her work was featured in several exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Galerie Eigen + Art, Leipzig and the Kunsthalle Erfurt. In MutualArt’s artist press archive, Tina Bara is featured in Interference, a piece from the Revista Arta in 2020. Before

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...

, she was in touch with peace movement in the

Life

Bara was born just outside Berlin, but grew up in

Guben Guben (Polish language, Polish and Sorbian languages, Sorbian: ''Gubin'') is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in Lower Lusatia, in the States of Germany, state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. Located in the Spree-Neiße Districts of German ...

, then on what had since

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

, been the

frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

of the

with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In 1980, she moved back to Berlin, and from 1980 to 1986, attended the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, where she studied History and Art History. As a student, she was in touch with political opposition groups, including Frauen für den Frieden (''Women for Peace''). (The German Democratic Republic was hosting more than 300,000

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

troops at the time.) While still at university Bara held her first exhibition at the regional Public Arts House at

Berlin-Treptow Treptow () was a former borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001. Geography The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Niederschönewei ...

. In 1986 she joined the East German League of Image Artists as a freelance photographer. During this time, her commissions included work on documentary films for

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

, the state-owned film company, including flüstern & SCHREIEN – Ein Rockreport, a major documentary project lasting three years and headed up by Dieter Schumann. In 1986, Bara started a correspondence course in photography with the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. However, this was becoming a period of increasing political instability for the German Democratic Republic and she discontinued the course in 1989 without, at this stage, receiving a qualification. Instead, in July 1989, a few months before the Berlin wall fell, she found she was able to emigrate through the "Inner frontier" and relocated to

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, where she pursued a career as a freelance artist-photographer, also working on video documentaries. In 1991, she received, belatedly, a diploma with :de:Arno Fischer (Fotograf)Arno Fischer from the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts where, since 1993, she has held a professorship in photography.

Work

Bara's self taught method of photography in which she films the female body in close range conveys a sense of societal discomfort. This was illustrated in her 1988 work, o.T. (Untitled) in fourteen parts. Bara's critical and political consciousness was shaped by her participation in Frauen fur den Frieden, and explored through her autobiographical photography, in which her understanding of self and the world was mirrored. She stated in 2009 that, "My female gaze arose from my biography and from my personal search for identity. A distancing feminist self-assertion was not our thing."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bara, Tina 1962 births Living people People from Guben East German photographers East German women Photographers from Brandenburg 20th-century German women photographers 20th-century German photographers Humboldt University of Berlin alumni