Irina Ionesco is a French-Romanian photographer who began exhibiting her work in the mid-1970s. Her photography is dark, dramatic, erotic, and strongly evocative of a vintage aesthetic, with lots of influence from the 1920s, reflecting the lavishly ornamental tendencies of that period, feathers, furs, headdresses, and all, with its vampish, sexy yet macabre vibe.
Irina’s images of her daughter, Eva Ionesco, were very controversial, as you can probably imagine. In these, the prepubescent Eva is displayed in an array of nude, erotic, and bondage-inspired poses, with an intense gaze, a seeming precocious knack for modeling, and a weird, Lolita-esque allure. I find these photos to be some of Ionesco’s most interesting work, however.
