Mea Baráth

Mea Baráth is a Christchurch-based family-documentary photographer and educator whose award-winning work explores everyday stories, observations and human connections. She has over 15 years of experience and uses a reflective and encouraging approach to teaching, helping students create powerful, impactful photographs and find their own voice in the art of photography.

Her photographs have received international recognition, including gold and first-place awards at the BudapestInternational Foto Awards and honours at the Focus on the Story Portrait Awards and the Documentary Family Awards. With a foundation in Steiner education and mental health counselling, Mea brings empathy and mindfulness to her teaching, helping learners connect observation, emotions, and narrative in their visual work through the creation of photographs.

Born in Hungary, Mea now lives in Christchurch with her family of four. In Mea’s words ‘being a parent is a challenge but the most wonderful, richest thing in life. I think family photojournalism speaks about that. I take pictures of “nothing special” in families’ everydays, because that’s where the thing that we are calling life is happening’. She describes her work as ‘photography without poses’ and keeps storytelling at the heart of her work.