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‘Art as Reflection of the World’: Speaking with Artist Barbara Bryn Klare

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After the 2016 election, Athens-born artist Barbara Bryn Klare found that her artistic practice began to become that of “first responder.”

“I was very energized, and disturbed, and I felt like I needed to do some work about it,” said Klare. “I’m co-opting this term ‘first responder,’ and I don’t mean any disrespect to people who actually perform that role medically or otherwise. I’m hoping for this not to be seen as a misappropriation, instead I am thinking of ‘what is my first response?’ and ‘how can I respond to events around me quickly?’”

Klare, who recently moved back to Athens but who maintains connections to the San Francisco Bay area where she lived for several decades, has created a diverse array of art pieces in direct response to the tumultuous events of the past four years.

Flag
“Shredded Flag (Charlottesville),” a 2017 piece created by artist Barbara Bryn Klare in reaction to the white supremacist and neo-Nazi Unite the Right rally that took place in Charlottesville, NC August 11-12, 2017. (Image courtesy of the artist)

Listen to WOUB’s conversation with Klare about her Athens roots, her artistic practice, and the ways in which social justice can become manifest in a work of art, embedded above.