World renowned artist, Barbara von Enger's whose art covers a range of topics including: Behaviorism, Religion, Fashion, Race and Identity in Germany, Human Rights, Love and Sexuality, The cultures of Rap Music and Jamaican Dancehall, shares her story.

Born to Matthews and Mae Davis Von Enger, Barbara who see arts as a way of life.

Interestingly, all her plans are set for an art exhibition in Ghana in May next year.

Inspiration

Her inspiration is multifaceted; it does not come in one direction. “It is a funny feeling which cannot be grabbed,” she says. However, one thing she believes played a major role is that her mother was an artist who painted on textiles, and as part of her work, “she used to put me on the lab whiles drawing with pencil on the textile. For me, that is where her inspiration for the art started,” she said.


Challenges

According to her, it has not been a smooth path, due to what she stands for.
This notwithstanding, she believes that challenges are part the path she had chosen and cannot give up in spite of the difficulties encountered.
“In Europe as a black woman, who had the continent in my heart, I always fight battles of racism among others,” she said.

Barbara tells reveals, she has overcome the challenges by showing them the elegance of her culture, and her intellectual competence.

Education

Though Babara is from Ethiopia, she was born in Red Hills, St Andrew, Jamaica, Barbara Von Enger spent her formative years in Trench Town. Though she was introduced to art by her mother, she subsequently studied the subject formally
Prior to the commencement of her educational journey in Jamaica, Barbara’s mother sought the services of a private tutor to teach her in the house, a move aimed at building her creativity.

Following that, she enrolled at Hillell Academy, and then stopped a while due to some medical conditions. After completion, she went to Canada and later left to the United States of America.

Barbara later went to the Oxford University in England to study arts and modern languages, and then followed up to Goethe Institution in Germany.She decided to stay in Germany

Breakthrough

Her breakthrough came when Franca Sozzani, the former Editor- in -Chief of the Italian Vogue, brought the attention to her by making fashion photographers give her exposure, she said.

According to Barbara, her biggest achievement is a piece on enslavement in Lybia that made her cried.

“I cried because the politicians and others have neglected those living in slavery conditions in Lybia. My works got published by other magazines in Europe,” she said.

Future

“I want my craft to be there for the future generation to take healing and inspiration from and make the continent a better place.

Favourite food and leisure

Her favourite food Brown rice, and for her leisure, she does volunteering for the balck community in Frankfurt, through her social psychology initiative by offering support to the downtrodden.

Family

Barbara is single, her reason being that arts is time consuming, and cannot be box together with relationship, which also demands same.