The Holding Place, in conversation with Emma O’Brien
Time: 2-3pm
Date: Saturday 15 July
Location: Courtyard Room, The Printworks, Dublin Castle
Price: Free and no need to book. First come first served until spaces are filled.
Description
While balancing unpaid emotional and domestic labour with full-time paid work, Emma O’Brien placed her photographic practice on hold. It was an indulgence she couldn’t afford; Motherhood demanded this sacrifice. As her child grew, influenced by Matricentric Feminism, and working with a feminist concept of intersubjectivity, “how to care for another and one’s self”, she began carving the time to explore her role as a mother and artist. Finding the quiet moments between the intense days of working and mothering she began to photograph their everyday.
The Holding Place is a meditation on the physical, psychological, and political landscape of Motherhood. The small world they inhabit, the recurring daily routines, the scant time available, and the intimacy of the mother-child relationship all shape the work. In The Holding Place, the personal and political blur as the artist engages in a raw and honest dialogue, exploring the emotional complexities and challenges of motherhood.
Join artist Emma O’Brien in celebration of her long awaited first photobook, published by PhotoIreland.
About Emma O’Brien
Emma O’Brien’s photographic practice is concerned mainly with themes of family childhood and home. Documenting the personal and the private, domestic landscapes, rural life, small towns and neighbourhoods.
A career in Social and Community work informs her practice as she has a strong sense of ethics and works collaboratively with her subjects.
Emma is selected to represent Ireland in Europe on the Futures Talent Platform by PhotoIeland in 2022, and she is a Recipient of the Irish Arts Council Bursary Award for Visual Arts in 2022. She Also Received the Agility Award by the Irish Arts Council in 2021 and was selected As FreshEyes Talent by GUP magazine, 2021; Work published by PhotoIreland, 2021; She has work exhibited in Rotterdam, Dublin, and the UK in 2021. Selected for PhotoIreland Open call 2010; Shortlisted for Smedia Awards in 2009 .
Tsundoku Art Book Fair
13-16 July 2023
Location
The Printworks, Dublin Castle,
Dame Street, Dublin 2.
