Barbara Diener

Barbara Diener (German, b. 1982)

Fire,

2012

Archival pigment print

12 x 18 inch image on 13 x 19 inch paper

Signed edition of 30
 

Barbara Diener's Fire From the series Sehnsucht (2012), the German word meaning "a deep longing for someone or something which is neither fully defined nor rectified", explores the complexity of home and rootedness in her work. Born and raised in a small town in Germany, Diener photographs rural communities in Europe and the United States that are demographically similar to her hometown. These places have maintained a rural lifestyle in a society where the relevance of such a way of living is questioned. But in these rustic towns, Diener sees the human experience and her images portray the abstract feeling of comfort provided by the notion of home.

Born in 1982 in Germany Barbara Diener received her Bachelor of Fine Art in Photography from the California College of the Arts and Masters of Fine Art in Photography from Columbia College Chicago.

Her work has been exhibited at Filter Photo Space, Chicago, IL; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Hyde Park Art Center, Hyde Park, IL; Alibi Fine Art, Chicago, IL; David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, Invisible Dog Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Lilllstreet Art Center, Chicago; Riverside Art Center, Chicago, IL. Pingyao Photo Festival, China, The Arcade, Chicago, IL, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA, Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, VT and Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA among others. Diener’s photographs are part of several private and institutional collections including the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Diener has participated in several artist residency programs including the Fields Project in Oregon, IL, ACRE in Steuben, WI and HATCH Projects through the Chicago Artist Coalition. She is a winner of Flash Forward 2013, the recipient of a Follett Fellowship at Columbia College Chicago and was awarded the Albert P. Weisman Award in 2012 and 2013. In 2015, 2017, and 2020 she received an Individual Artist Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Events.

In 2018 Daylight Books published her body of work Phantom Power and Fw: Books published her project The Rocket’s Red Glare in 2023. Diener lives and works in Cork, Ireland.