Emer O'Brien is an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

with a background in photography. Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, her family was forced to immigrate because of

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

. After

the Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the lat ...

was signed in 1998, she moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she lived and worked until

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. Since 2019 she has been based in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

where she is the Professor of

Photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

at Deree College, the

American College of Greece The American College of Greece (ACG) is a private college, graduate business school and high school in Agia Paraskevi, Greece. It is the oldest American-accredited college in Europe and a not-for-profit institution. History ACG was founded i ...

. She studied at

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...

, London (1999–2001) and then at Reading College of Art and Design (2001–2002) and graduated with a BA (Hons) from

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

(2002). She then completed her MA at Goldsmiths, University London (2002– 2003). O'Brien is best known for works that mediate on the redundancy of human artefacts when deserted by man. Her recent large-scale installations like ''Run Run Run'' at the

Wapping Project The Wapping Hydraulic Power Station (built 1890) was originally run by the London Hydraulic Power Company in Wapping, London, England. Originally, it operated using steam, and was later converted to use electricity. It was used to power machi ...

chart the intersection of technology and science with the natural and supernatural. O'Brien is also known for her photographs of horses. In 2004 O'Briens work was featured in ''The East End Academy'' exhibition at the

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fi ...

. In 2008 O'Brien's work was selected by

Humphrey Ocean Humphrey Ocean (born 22 June 1951) is a contemporary British painter. Early life Humphrey Ocean was born Humphrey Anthony Erdeswick Butler-Bowdon, on 22 June 1951 in Sussex. He went to Ampleforth College and in 1967 went to Tunbridge Wells Sc ...

for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Her final exhibition in the UK was during the 250th anniversary celebration at the Royal Academy where she exhibited a pamphlet celebrating the life of Lindsey Cockwell.

References

External links

www.emerobrien.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Emer 1974 births Living people Artists from Dublin (city) Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the London College of Fashion Alumni of Oxford Brookes University Irish contemporary artists Irish expatriates in England Irish expatriates in Greece