Ionesco began taking photographs of her daughter when she was four years old in 1969 though she did not display them publicly or gain prominence for her works until 1974.

[4] Ionesco also allowed her daughter to appear nude for other photographers, including Jacques Bourboulon.

[6] Over the following years the two would have a fractured relationship, with Eva asserting her mother was abusive and fighting for control of the images she appeared in.

In 2015 Ionesco sued her son-in-law, writer Simon Liberati, for passages he had written in his book Eva, which included unflattering descriptions of Ionesco including the fact that she was the product of incest between her father, who was also her mother's father and therefore her grandfather, and her mother, who would have also been her half-sister.

[4] A major part of Irina's work features lavishly dressed women, decked out in jewels, gloves, and other finery, but also adorning themselves with symbolic pieces such as chokers and other fetishistic props, posing provocatively, offering themselves partially disrobed as objects of sexual possession.