Astman is a Toronto-based photographer and multimedia artist known for her experimental work with photographic technologies and her feminist approach. Her Ektacolor murals of enlarged Polaroid images, such as Untitled (Visual Narrative Series), 1978–79, feature billboard-scale storyboards with typewritten text. Works in her Red Series, 1981, evoke personal worlds through striking self-portraits with everyday objects. Astman is a professor at OCAD University in Toronto.

Image: Barbara Astman, Untitled (Visual Narrative Series), 1978–79, SX-70 Ektacolor mural, 121.9 x 152.4 cm, Art Gallery of Hamilton.

For further reading, see:

Astman, Barbara, Liz Wylie, and Art Gallery of Hamilton. Barbara Astman: Personal/Persona: A 20-Year Survey. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1995.

Enright, Robert. “The Revolutionary Two-Step: An Interview with Barbara Astman.” Border Crossings 90, no. 1 (May 2004): 44–50.