Barry Underwood was born in Wilmington, in 1963. He received an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art (MI) and a BA in Theatre and in Photography from Indiana University Northwest (IN). He is an associate professor and head of photography at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

He was awarded the Creative Workforce Fellowship through the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (OH), The Cleveland Arts Prize for Visual Arts (OH), and the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award (OH).

Barry has also been an artist-in-residence at The Banff Center for the Arts (Canada), I-Park Foundation (CT), Headlands Center for the Arts (CA), Burlington City Arts, at Shelburne Farms (VT), The Center for Land Use Interpretation (UT), The MacDowell Colony (NH), Teton Artlab, (WY), and most recently The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Bethany (CT).
Barry has exhibited his work in a variety of contexts including Art Museums, University Galleries, Project Spaces, and for-profit Galleries including the Akron Art Museum (OH), Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (OH)