Born into an eastern European circus before moving to Paris as a
teenager, Irina Ionesco's photography is defined by fantasy,
performance and theatre – not least in her renowned portraits of her
teenage daughter, Eva.
It's not every photographer that is
influenced by their early work as a snake charmer. But then nothing
about Irina Ionesco is average, from the dramatic theatrical community
she was brought up in, to her controversial photographs of her daughter
Eva. It's for these – often nude – photos of Eva from the 1970's that
Ionesco is most well known. For her, they reflect the early loss of her
own mother and stimulate her complex relationship with her daughter For
her critics, such as the Canadian authorities who seized her work at
customs, they are dubious erotica worthy of censorship. Above, we
present some of Dazed's favourite photos from her long career, or click here to see Bryan McMahon's feature on Ionesco from 2006.