Barbara Beirne's work stands within the traditions of environmental portraiture and documentary photography. She has photographed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, India, Nepal, Mexico and Ecuador. Among her many projects in the United States are photographs of women from Southern Appalachia, first generation American teenagers, Kosovar refugees and The Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Ms. Beirne's photographs have been widely exhibited in museums and galleries. Two four year nation-wide tours of her work have been sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Becoming American: Teenagers and Immigration is currently on tour.

Museums including the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, The Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, The Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA, The Noyes Museum of Art , Oceanville, NJ and Newark Public Library, Newark, NJ include her work in their permanent collection. Her photographs are also in many private collections.

Ms. Beirne studied political science at Marymount College and holds a master of fine arts degree in photography from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She has studied with Philip Perkis and Robert Mapplethorp. She is the author and photographer of five children’s books and for five years was an adjunct professor of photography at County College of Morris, Randolph, New Jersey.