Lisel Haas Archive Exploration in collaboration with Luna

Lisel Haas (1898 - 1989) was a German-Jewish photographer who successfully ran a photographic business alongside her partner Grete Bermbach (1899 - 1979). Her theatre photography is particularly significant as she worked at the Birmingham Rep Theatre during a time when many notable actors were starring there. The Library of Birmingham is home to the Lisel Haas archive, a collection of 258 boxes containing negatives, prints, letters, memorabilia and more. Until now, the collection has remained uncatalogued.

In this two-hour long workshop, you will learn about the life and work of Lisel Haas through an exploration of the materials in the archive. Through these materials, we will consider what it means to be a woman photographer and the history of women in photography, with a selection of these items being curated for 2 forthcoming exhibitions: Luna’s exhibition Care & Defiance in May 2026, and Bertz Associates exhibition of Lisel Haas work at the Library of Birmingham in July 2026.

After the formal workshop, there will be time for participants to review the archive independently if they so wish.

This workshop is hosted by Bertz Associates in collaboration with Luna (formerly Women in Photo Birmingham). It is aimed at women, women-identifying and non-binary photographers in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The session will be led by Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, founder of Luna, Clare Hewitt, archivist on the Lisel Haas project, and Jen Wilbur, project manager on the Lisel Haas project.

This workshop is supported by funding from The National Archives.

The workshop will take place in the Wolfson Centre for Archival Research on the fourth floor of the Library of Birmingham.

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