Donna Bassin, Ph.D. is a fine art photographer, clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst, published author, and award-winning documentary filmmaker who examines what is hidden within. She specializes in loss, grief, and mourning, and teaches “Mourning as Transformation: The Creative Edge of Traumatic and Ordinary Loss” at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

As a photographer, film-maker, author, and practicing psychoanalyst, I feel an urgency for artistic recognition of the ruptures in our society and attempts towards repair.

The Afterlife of Dolls, a solo photographic and sound installation at the Montclair Art Museum, was a response to my work at Ground Zero. This project was featured on PBS' State of the Arts and received both a Golden Bell and Gradiva Award. I collaborated in the formation of a veterans' art initiative called Frontline Arts and directed and produced two award-winning documentaries – Leave No Soldier and The Mourning After – about post-traumatic stress in the veterans' community.

My work has been juried into numerous group exhibitions from New York City to Los Angeles. My photographs have been commissioned for book covers and are in private and museum collections.

Recently, I was invited to represent New Jersey’s women artists in a public art project titled Her Flag (www.herflag.com) and I became part of an exhibition dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment curated by Rachel Gugelberger of Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, New York. A selection from my portrait series, My Own Witness, has also been featured as a public art display in Brooklyn, New York, curated by Indira Cesarine, SaveArtSpace and Art4Equality, as well as Art Off-Screen, a public, international exhibit curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch of Wave Hill (www.neumeraki.com).

Donna Bassin

Photography and Film

84 Haller Drive, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009

(c) 201.306.5550

dibassin@gmail.com

Education

University of Michigan, B.A

Pratt Institut, M.P.S.

Union Graduate School. Ph.D.

Institute of Psychoanalytic Training and Research Psychoanalytic Certificate

International Center of Photography

Professional Affiliations

Frontline Arts, New Jersey: co-founder and member of the Board

Assistant Clinical Professor, New York University, Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Division 39, Section 9 Psychoanalysis and Social Responsibility

Solo Exhibitions

2004

Playing Around, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ

Memories: Ascending/Descending, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

2003

The Afterlife of Dolls, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

Group Exhibitions

2020

Bound Up Together: On the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY (October 2020)

Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; The Untitled Space, Tribeca, NY

Art4Equality x Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness, SaveArtSpace/Art4Equality; Public art display, Brooklyn, NY

Art Off-Screen, Neumeraki, D*FIT Studio, Montclair, NJ

Artists for Social Justice 2020, Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College, Flushing, NY

Her Flag, Old Barracks Museum (viewing via internet livestream), Trenton, NJ

2019

Little by Little, Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ

State of the Art 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ

Contemporary Portraiture: To See Each Other, Passaic County Arts Center, Hawthorne, NJ

ViewPoints 2019, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ

2018

Armistice Day 2018, Puffin Cultural Forum – Frontline Arts, Teaneck, NJ

Call & Response: The Art of Listening, 1978 Maplewood Arts Center, Maplewood, NJ

Natural Encounters, N.Y. Photo Curator – Global Photography Awards

Viewpoints 2018, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ

2017

Art Connections 13, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ

Street Photography, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece

2016

Cherry Blossoms in Winter, Rutgers-Newark, Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ

Trois Poissons in a Big See, Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Viewpoints 2016, Aljira: a Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ

Art Connections 12, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ

2015

Mirrors of the Mind 4: The Psychotherapist as Artist, Art Share LA, Los Angeles, CA

2008

The Spontaneous Gesture Realized, The Rubelle and Norman Shafler Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2007

Shame, Redsaw Gallery, Newark, NJ

2006

Oh You Beautiful Doll, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, NY

2005

Exposed, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ

Truth, Gallery 214, Montclair, New Jersey

Almost Human: Dolls and Robots in Contemporary Art, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ

2003

Three Twins, The Arts Guild of Rahway, Rahway, NJ

Time, Light, Space, New Century Artist, New York, NY

ArtSpace, Montclair, NJ

Stebbins Gallery, Cambridge, MA

2002

Into the Light, Photo District Gallery, New York, NY

Film and Video

2016 - 2015

The Mourning After, Documentary, PEP Video

2014

Leave No Soldier (edited), Documentary. Director and Producer. (R.T 53 minutes)

2008

Leave No Soldier, Documentary. Director and Producer. ShrinkWrap Productions. (R.T 83 minutes)

Screenings include: Film Festivals (See awards), The International Federation For Psychoanalytic Education, The Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Psychoanalysis in conjunction with the Creative Arts Therapy Graduate Program at Pratt Institute, The American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work National Conference, The Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, The American Psychological Association Division 39 Spring Conference, IARPP International Conference in Tel Aviv and The Chicago Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology

2004

Dollhouse, Recipient of Experimental Television Center Finishing Fund Grant

2003

Dollumentary: The Origins of Dolls, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

1978

Buddy and the Monster: A Children’s Orientation to Psychiatric Hospitalization

Awards and Grants

2018

Honorable Mention for Segregation and Human Rights in the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Photography Gala Awards

2017

NAAP Gradiva Award for “The Mourning After”

2014

Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing, Video Grant for “The Mourning After”

2008

Leave No Soldier, Director/Producer. Documentary. Official Selection of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, The Big Muddy, New Filmmakers Festival, Best Director at the First Glance Film Festival and Merit award at the Accolade Film Festival

2007

The American Psychological Association, Division 39 Section IX Achievement Award

2005

The National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, Gradiva Award for Artwork Contributions to Psychoanalysis

2004

New Jersey Council of the Arts Featured Artist of the Month: January

Pratt Institute, Development Grant

Roy W. Dean Film & Video Grant: Finalist, “The Mourning After”

Experimental Television Center Ltd., Finishing Funds for “Dollhouse”

2003

Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Gold Bell Leadership Award for Contributions to Mental Health Through the Arts Catalogues and Publications

Selected Lectures

2015

The Emerging Veterans Art Movement, NYU, New York, NY

2007

Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY

2005

Images of Memorial Activity, Memory, Memorials and Collective Working Through Conference New York Freudian Society, New York, NY

2003

The Art of Traumatic Mourning. Third Annual Conference Five New York Societies of the International Psychoanalytic Association

2000

Pratt Institute, Development Grant

Book and Magazine Reproductions

2020

"Bhutan.Prayer Flags.9" Cover photograph for Prayers for the Pandemic. Volume Two. Curated by Anne Trauben for Drawing Rooms, August 2020.

“My Own Witness.” Series of photographs for Human Rights. Issue #69. Lens Magazine. June 2020.

“Bhutan.Prayer Flags.2” Cover photograph for Prayers for the Pandemic. Volume One. Curated by Anne Trauben for Drawing Rooms, May 2020.

2019

“Landscape.New Zealand.1” Cover photograph for Toward a Social Psychoanalysis: Culture, Character, and Normative Unconscious Processes (Relational Perspectives Book Series), 1st Edition. L. Layton, ed. M. Leavy-Sperounis, Routledge Press

2018

“We the People: Portraits of Resistance and America Reconstructed.” Featured photographs by Donna Bassin from series Here I Am: Portraits of Resistance, Psychoanalytic Review, 105(6), December 2018. Ed. Douglas F. Maxwell.

“Gorillas.8” Featured photograph for ‘So Zoo Me, a photo narrative’ by Mark Blickley in Event Horizon, Issue 5, 2018

“Reflection.5” Cover photograph for Decentering Relational Theory: A Comparative Critique (Relational Perspectives Book Series), eds. L. Aron, S. Grand and J. Slochower, Routledge Press

“Reflection.4” Cover photograph for De-Idealizing Relational Theory: A Critique from Within (Relational Perspectives Book Series), eds. L. Aron, S. Grand and J. Slochower, Routledge Press

2014

“Hand” Cover photograph for Holding and Psychoanalysis second edition, J. Slochower, Routledge Press

2013

“Waves” Cover photograph for Psychoanalytic Collisions, second edition, J. Slochower, Routledge Press

2005

“Inside Dolly: A Still Live Revisited.” Almost Human: Dolls and Robots in Contemporary Art. Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ

2004

“The Afterlife of Dolls.” Catalogue by Mary Birmingham. The Montclair Museum of Art, Montclair, NJ

2002

“Listening to Laurie”, Cover photograph for Being and Doing: Essays on Gender, ed. D. Franco, Ph.D., Mental Health Resources

Selected Interviews

2015

Fog of War, State of the Arts, NJN TV

2005

“Childhood”, State of the Arts. NJN Public Television. Featured Artist

2003

“Therapist’s Imagery: Psychoanalyst Uses Dolls to Explore Relationships.” The Star Ledger, December 5, 2003

2002

“Review of Donna Bassin’s Work.” The Montclair Times. Montclair, NJ

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