Stella McGarvey

Hi, my name is Stella! @stellamcgarvey

I have been a member and using Photofusion’s facilities for a little over a year now, regularly dropping my film with Nick and using the darkroom for printing.

I am a Fine Art Painting graduate, but focus primarily on photography, paper based works and installation. Having such an accessible space to become reacquainted with darkroom photography processes has been not only important in keeping the momentum of my practice, but has also opened up avenues to the South London film photography community.

Chair series :

This series started a year and a half ago, when I started to notice arrangements like these; two chairs side by side, apparently abandoned mid-conversation, discarded in the middle of a moment of connection. I'm sure the leakage of my own memory colours them, and my own ideas of place and relationships enter into the image.

All of my photos tend to explore echoes and imprints that things leave behind. Reflections and shadows give a body to the unseen. Other photos where objects appear in couplets give the images an anthropomorphic feel. There's a sense of tenderness in the companionship of the objects. They're evidences of a fleeting presence. The photos capture the shadow of the moment missed and the ghosts they leave behind.

These were all taken during a month-long residency in LA. I photographed my temporary home and the back streets of Santa Monica. I had enough time to discover it but not enough to know it. I captured shadows and light. Quiet moments easily missed, in a place I had no expectations there was more space to see the subtler things.

I spent almost all of my time alone which was a surprisingly beautiful change from London. I had time to think and to feel lonely which I think is when I get the brain space for ideas to percolate.

Images © Stella McGarvey.