From her critically acclaimed installations of the 1980s and 1990s, that were often site-specific and multimedia, to her more recent photographic series addressing the echo of time-based forms (a magnetic tape, a soundwave or the lifespan of flowers during a pandemic), through numerous private and public commissions including the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin awarded in 2002, Steinman uses a great variety of media and materials to explore what she once called “layers of impermanence”. Laureate of the prestigious prix Paul-Émile Borduas in 2022, awarded an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal in 2015, Steinman was the recipient of a Governor General’s Award in 2002 for her outstanding contribution to the fields of visual and media arts. Steinman’s works have been presented in numerous biennials and exhibitions in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the US, among which Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Art Institute of Chicago, and National Gallery of Canada and is included in major collections including Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO); National Gallery of Canada; Montreal Museum of Fine arts (MBAM); Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG), La Maison européenne de la photographie (MEP), Paris; Collection Fonds national d’art contemporain (FNAC), Paris; Jewish Museum, New York City, and Seoul Metropolitan Museum, Seoul. Portrait of Barbara Steinman by Document original (2023).