In this talk, photographers Alba Zari and Emi O’Connell will discuss how dark moments in their personal family histories have influenced and shaped their work. Zari will share insights into The Occult, a multilayered project that attempts to understand her mother’s experiences living in a Christian Fundamentalist sect called The Children of God. Pulling images from family albums, archival footage supplied by members of the cult and sexualized drawings from comics created by the sect’s founder, Zari shines a light not only on her mother’s life but also the insidious indoctrination and abuse at the core of the sect. 

In 1964, Emi O’Connell’s pregnant grandmother escaped from one of Ireland’s notorious mother and baby homes. She will discuss her work and then I ran, which uses performative self-portraiture, landscape photography and still life to re-enact events that lead to her grandmother’s flight and her father’s adoption. Sat between image, text and documentary photography the work explores themes of purity and redemption while exposing the abuse and neglect many young women endured at the hands of the Catholic Church and Irish State.

Both artists will be joined by Dr Tamsin Silvey, who will moderate the talk. Silvey is Cultural Programme Curator at Historic England.

Both Alba Zari and Emi O’Connell’s works will be on display in Copeland Gallery 17th-26th May.

Book your ticket here.