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 From My/ Your  Embrace 




 Phoenix Stewart 


 



My grandfather passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2024. During the last few years of his life, I had became a stranger to him, and when he died, I held his hand for the first time in a long time. That moment was both peaceful and deeply painful. It created a lasting fear in me: the fear of losing my own memories, the people I love, and the moments that shape my life. Thus photography is my way of holding on, of preserving what is fleeting, and returning to moments that would otherwise disappear.
Over the past two years, my photographic project, From My/Your Embrace has been fed by various losses, experiences I avoid thinking about because they make me sad. My grandfather slipped away. Friendships faded. A romantic relationship came to its end. I changed. All of these things have shifted the project's focus. My work became more introspective. Instead of making images for others to understand, I began focusing on what the images made me feel. The work evolved from a documentation of love to understanding myself within loss and transformation.


I use 35mm film, digital cameras, and experimental techniques to create space for remembering. I focus on material textures and emotional atmosphere like light leaks, surface imperfections, and layered processes to echo the fragility and shifting nature of memory. Light becomes a stand-in for memory, shadows for loss, reflections for the past resurfacing, and layered exposures for the overlap between what was and what still remains. I follow intuition, honor the feeling of the moment, and stay open to chance. My practice is rooted in physical, time-based processes that involve repetition and embodied actions such as handling materials and printing. Through this approach, the project preserves traces of what is disappearing, creating images that feel fluid and emotionally charged.



Photography functions as a visual language for me, one that communicates how I see and feel when words fall short. Contemporary culture moves fast, forgets quickly, and often demands constant documentation. My project pushes back by slowing down and valuing the personal, the quiet, and the fragile. This work creates a space for remembering, inviting viewers to reflect on their own histories, losses, and connections. It becomes an ongoing attempt to keep memory alive, honor what has shaped me, and offer others a moment of recognition within their own experiences.



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