Ireland, Janna

American, b. 1985 Philadelphia, PA

BiographyShortly after moving to Los Angeles, Janna Ireland began photographing her husband’s grandfather’s house in the San Fernando Valley, California. Intrigued by the overt display of wealth and affluence throughout the house, Ireland creates self-portraits in these surroundings as a means to explore the performance of femininity, domesticity, isolation, and Black identity. In the series The Spotless Mirror (2011-2013), Ireland sees herself as a character in a fantasy life, drawn from the pages of 1980s editorial spreads in Ebony magazine and coded with the symbolism of Renaissance painting.

Ireland completed a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU (2007) and an MFA from UCLA (2013). Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Schneider Gallery, Chicago (2013); The Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula, California (2013); and Lennox Contemporary in Toronto, Canada (2005). Ireland is the 2013 recipient of the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s Snider Prize.