'and then I ran employs self-portraiture, image and text, visualising the narrative of my grandmother’s recollection of escaping a mother and baby home, 1964, Ireland. Mother and baby homes were funded by the government and run by religious order. These homes forced unwed mothers into secrecy while neglecting to provide adequate care for mothers and babies. The project explores Ireland’s deep shame culminating from the separation and exportation of babies, as well as oppressive conditions experienced by these women.
and then I ran has three elements interlaced throughout. Black and white images are performative reenactments referring to my grandmother’s escape and a visual representation of loss. The colour imagery shows the aftermath, bringing the viewer to a specific landscape to revisit a memory. The mixture of the three elements sit between current day and history, going back in time to discuss ideas of freedom, distress and confinement.' – Emi O'Connell
32 pages, 14.8 × 21 cm, softcover, PhotoIreland (Dublin).