Eva O'Leary: (03.21.2020 - 09.11.2020): Online Exhibition

I've spent a lot of time alone in the last few years, working on projects in rural parts of the US.  When the COVID-19 Pandemic began, I found myself in my hometown in central Pennsylvania, working on a project that explored the town's patriarchal culture, living alone in an old house on Fraternity row.

I've regularly kept a journal since I was 6.  My memories are unreliable, especially in times of high stress.  Writing has always been a necessary and private coping mechanism, a way to validate and record my own experiences. In my practice, I've often referenced this archive of journals and have used them as a map.  

When the lockdown began, I found myself unable to write for the first time in many years.  Instead of writing, I started making these photographs.  This practice became a daily coping ritual, a private way to navigate this experience, and a way to insist on remembering.    

Eva O'Leary (b. 1989) is an artist who works primarily with photography and video. Her work explores the role of images in shaping our perceptions of ourselves and others. 

O'Leary received her BFA from California College of the Arts in 2012, and her MFA from Yale School of Art in 2016. She was the recipient of the Outset Unseen Exhibition Fund in 2019, the Hyères Festival Photographie Grand Prix in 2018, The Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize in 2017, and was named a Foam Talent in 2014. She has exhibited her work internationally, including at the CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), FOAM (Amsterdam), Villa Noailles (Hyeres, France), l'Atelier Néerlandais (Paris), Benaki Museum (Athens), and Aperture Foundation (New York). Her work has been featured in various publications, including ArtForum, Aperture, 1000 Words, and The New Yorker.