Q&A: Eimhin & Emily
This Valentine’s Day, we’re hosting MISS/FOCUS - a group photography showcase and our first show of 2026. Mint resident Richard Scott sat down with curators Eimhin Healy and Emily Halloran to ask why blurry snaps and mishaps are worth celebrating.
Friends of Mint Art House, Eimhin and Emily have been making waves on the Gold Coast creative scene for a while now. One as singer-songwriter, flamboyant Irishman and social photographer; the other as party girl, vintage camera collector and events planner. But next Saturday’s show marks their first time curating an exhibition of their very own works. Promising a “celebration of accidents” that involves a showcase of printed photography, mini-movies, live musical performances, and prints from special guest, Luke Henery (of DZ Death Rays and Violet Soho), this Valentine’s is shaping up to be quite the night.
Richard: How did you two decide on the theme for your first show together?
Eimhin: The show is called MISS/FOCUS and it’s about all the moments where we took photos and it didn’t quite go to plan but ended up being something sort of beautiful in its own right.
Emily: Eimhin [pronounced Evan] and I grew up in a time where things were analogue, and photos were sent away to be printed. I always resonated with the concept of the one-shot moment. The idea with film was that you got one photo and however it turned out, that’s just how it was. That’s what I find most perfect. There’s a lot of unpredictability using vintage cameras, you have no idea what you’re taking, and it’s all those beautiful moments that turned out blurred or light-leaked, oversaturated that make for perfectly imperfect shots.
You’ve got quite different photographic styles, what works will you be displaying?
Eimhin: I have a couple of photos. The theme is more to do with the camera that I capture them with and a particular quirk of this camera. They’re related in that they’re just me, out and about in the world, mostly at bars or nights out, trying to capture a cool moment and the focusing didn’t quite work out instead capturing this kind of gloomy impression and I just decided they were beautiful. It was bothering me for a little while but once I saw the beauty in them, I decided to craft an entire exhibition around it.
Emily: [Photography] is something I started in my early teens and I primarily, and pretty much always, have shot on film using analogue and vintage cameras. I got my first when I was 14 and was $50 from a flea market in Melbourne and I haven’t looked back. The majority of photos that I’m showcasing in the exhibit are driven by the two things I love the most: music and nature. So, for example, there’s going to be some light-leaked photos that have been taken when I had my camera at gigs and the way that a light will shoot straight into your camera and totally just fuck up the image but in a way that’s really beautiful and pretty wacky. I’m also displaying a mini series of four-shot frames taken on an old plastic piece-of-crap camera that I bought for $10. Each shot features four photos but it captures very slow movement. I bought that when I was 15 and I’ve been using it ever since.
You’ve also teased some musical and multi-media elements for opening night, talk us through what you’ve got planned.
Eimhin: Well, I am a musician primarily. That’s the main thing that I do. I haven’t really planned it out just yet but I don’t want to just throw a playlist on a little bluetooth speaker. I want to hopefully craft a cinematic soundscape that I can just record live and leave playing and maybe head up and down, adding or taking away or augmenting the soundtrack to suit my mood or feeling. Again, I’m crafting it as we speak, mentally, so it’s going to be cool. I shred. I have a guitar and a synthesiser and a drum machine set up and I’m just going to make, like, a ten minute loop and just have that playing; record it and leave it playing, walk around and mingle, start back up, play something else. Just creating a bit of a soundscape live in the moment.
Emily: I have a couple of Super 8 mini movies that I’m hoping to be showing on loop, as well. I have some built and ready to go in different colour schemes: one in warm hues, blue hues and one of myself in little moments I have taken while practicing some selfies, really pretty. That’s going to be up on the wall as part of the main feature too.
What’s all this about holograms?
Eimhin: I saw this illusion come up in my feed, it’s called Pepper’s Ghost and it was originally developed for stage productions back before we had proper technology, and it just uses mirrors effectively to create the illusion of a ghostly figure using reflections on little clear pieces of glass or plastic. I’m so intrigued by it, it’s almost like an entry-level hologram and I just want to give it a go and see what happens. I’ve made a big moment of it but I genuinely don’t know if it’s going to work yet. I’m hoping it does.
How are you both feeling about opening night?
Emily: I’m really looking forward to the exhibit. The opening night in particular is going to be very wholesome vibes. Eimhin and I are, obviously, showing photos for the very first time. We’ve never done something like this before. And having Luke Henery exhibiting too, who’s a very good photographer, is exciting. I love how experimental he is, and develops himself, so I think his work will be very complimentary.
Eimhin: I think people should expect it to be a little hornier than they were expecting. We’re not just sticking a few pictures up on the wall, we’re creating an experience; it’s going to be unusual, it’s going to be not to be missed. And it’s going to be a little bit horny [laughs]. Sex sells, baby.
Would you recommend a particular dress code to accommodate such themes?
Eimhin: Yes, of course. I want, at the very least, tear-away pants. At the very least, I want velcro. I don’t want anything held down by a button or a bit of shoelace.
Well, I suppose that would tie in nicely with the date of the show.
Eimhin: That’s right, it’s February 14. Valentine’s Day - the day where Saint Valentine died for our sins on the cross of consumerism.
So, are you suggesting your blurry photos and arousing soundscape might be the perfect Valentine’s backdrop for all lovers on the Gold Coast?
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting, Richard. Even if you are alone. So, if you’re perturbed by the idea of going outside and seeing people holding hands and celebrating a false idol - Saint Valentine - then this is an alternative evening for you to come down to and enjoy. It’s going to be weird…and horny.
MISS/FOCUS: A Celebration of Accidents
Saturday 14 February 2026
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Mint Art House (87 West Burleigh Road, Burleigh Heads, QLD, 4220, Australia)
RSVP here
