Eva O'Leary is an Irish-born photographer based in New York City. She is best known for her intimate portraits of people and landscapes, often exploring themes of identity, memory, and the human condition.
O'Leary was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1989. She studied photography at the University of Ulster in Belfast before moving to New York City in 2011 to pursue a career as a professional photographer.
In 2013, O'Leary was awarded the prestigious Magnum Graduate Photographers Award for her series "The Unseen". This series explored the lives of people living on the fringes of society and was exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York City.
Since then, O'Leary has gone on to exhibit her work internationally and has been featured in publications such as The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The New York Times Magazine. Her work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions around the world including at MoMA PS1 and The Photographers’ Gallery in London.
In addition to her photographic practice, O'Leary is also an educator and mentor for young photographers. She regularly teaches workshops at institutions such as ICP and Parsons School of Design.
O'Leary's work has been recognized with numerous awards including a Lucie Foundation Scholarship (2015), PDN 30 (2016), and a Magnum Foundation Grant (2017). In 2018 she was named one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch.
O'Leary currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY where she continues to explore themes of identity through her photography.