‘BOUND’

An exhibition by STELLA GRIGOR McGARVEY

CURATED BY ELIZABETH ALSTER

EXHIBITION DATES:

PV: 11/10/25

Exhibition continues: 12/10/25 – 30/10/25

ADDRESS:

STAGE GALLERY, 55a NIGEL ROAD

Peckham, SE15 4NP.

Opening times:

Wed – Sun 2-9pm

Additional information:

Summary of show:

McGarvey’s upcoming solo show ‘Bound’, Stage Gallery, will feature a new sculptural work and bring together for the first time her ongoing photographic series Lovers. The show will be an immersion into her series of analogue photographs, shown as negatives, exploring the memories of a central broken kinetic sculpture. Spinning and unfurling an exploration of bonds, whether they be chosen or inescapable; the anthromorphic presences of the abandoned chairs stand small and glowing as totems of desire and of inevitability.

Exhibition text:

Stella Grigor McGarvey’s solo show ‘Bound’ is a tender speculation on connection. The show features her title piece sculpture, which is supported by the chorus of her ongoing photographic series, Lovers. 

Her sculpture Bound exists in a tug of war between a burning desire to intertwine, and a claustrophobic fear of inescapable bonds. Titled in reference to the Wachowski sisters’ 1996 epic tale of queer passion and the cyclical nature of fate, the show mirrors the film’s themes of desire and inevitability. The spinning chairs are lashed together in an endless ouroboric mating ritual, cyclical and devouring. Contained within a cocoon-like dust sheet, the objects are entangled like bodies, despite their rigid limbs. The sheet obscures the details, making the way they twine together feel intimate and private.

In parallel, her muted photographs, usually spacious and ghostly, are reduced to miniature scale inside the vastness of their frames, which pulls the viewer in to peer at them as they might peer through the window of a dollhouse. The scale echoes the delicateness of the themes she is confronting. McGarvey’s use of darkroom photography processes, which are both industrial and sensitive, paired with her use of dust sheets and broken street chairs, which have dual connotations to structure and fragility; speaks to the internal conversation resonating from the work.

What direction does fate move in? Do the emotional bonds we create forge themselves into the matter of our beings permanently? Are the forward steps of our lives winding up into tension, or unfurling out of it?

‘Bound’ grapples with the pervasiveness and scale of these questions with an undeviating sensitivity.

Artist statement: Stella Grigor McGarvey (b. 2000 Glasgow) is a multidisciplinary artist based in South London, working primarily with photography, installation, video and sculpture. 

Using analogue photographic processes and sculptural forms, McGarvey draws attention to what is slipping from view or gone—highlighting voids and fragile imprints. She often treats the darkroom as a space for material thinking. Selective dodging, burning and long exposures leave behind imperfect traces—spectral marks that evoke the unreliability of remembering. Her images often depict objects in couplets or partial forms, evoking suggestions of bodies, companions, or ghosts.

Following a Foundation year at Leeds (2019) Stella went on to complete a BA in Fine Art Painting from Camberwell College of Arts (First Class Hons, 2022), finished an LA-based residency at 18th Street Arts Centre (2024) and recently received funding from the Eaton Fund for her debut solo show Lacunary (2025). Her upcoming solo exhibition, Bound, opening at Stage Gallery Peckham on October 11th 2025. The show will feature a new sculptural work and bring together for the first time her ongoing photographic series Lovers.

Additional info: Link to workshop tickets to follow.

Workshop date : 22/10/25

Time : 7pm-9pm

Summary: Cyanotype workshop using UV lamps and materials related to the exhibition.

STAGE GALLERY: https://www.stagegallery.co.uk/