Barbara Probst was born in 1964 in Munich, Germany, and studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She has exhibited widely in Europe and the US. Her work was shown in New Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2006. She has had solo exhibitions at CentrePasquArt, Biel, Switzerland; Domaine de Kerguehennec, Bignan, France; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen; Stills Gallery Edinburgh; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin; Oldenburger Kunstverein, Germany; the Rudolfinum in Prague, and Le Bal in Paris.

Her work is represented in numerous public collections, including Folkwang Museum, Essen; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Books about her work have been published by Steidl, Hatje Cantz, Hartmann Books and Editions Xavier Barral.