From the time Meg McGrew first picked up a camera, she’s always been fascinated by shadows. Meg loves the way our shadows elongate in late afternoon sun. She’s hypnotized by the crisp morning shadows that appear on her bathroom walls, outlining a piece of pottery or a cascading strand of leaves from a flowerpot on a shelf.
Lately Meg has been focused on how objects and shadows can be transformed into different and unique images. She’s taken the original photos and altered them digitally, playing with exposure, color, contrast and applications that add texture to the image. Time melts when she’s involved in this process.
Over the years, Meg has expressed herself creatively through photography, pottery, painting and drawing. But taking photos has been the most integral part of her creative life. Catching the play of light on an object or person, combined with a cast shadow, is Meg’s ongoing point of focus. Meg’s intention with her current series of photos is to illustrate how things change in time and in our imaginations, moment to moment.
“Out of the Shadows” Artist Statement
It was a bright sunny morning in early August 2016. I was on highway I-40 headed to Maryland. My Mom was getting hospice care at home, and I had planned to take over the caregiving from my brother Kevin for a while.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a car came careening across and over the median, and spinning toward me as I was going 70mph.The crash was loud and hard. I had many broken and shattered bones, some of which could not be fixed. After months of numbness, the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder set in.
I was grateful to be alive though, and still cannot fully express my gratitude to the many people who supported me after the crash. You know who you are.
It took a long while for me to make any kind of artwork again. But one day I was sitting in my wheelchair and had my camera nearby. I picked it up and started to photograph my shadows on the wall across from me. Now I see it as my first attempt to creatively deal with the trauma. I took pictures of the shadow of the heavy boot on my right leg and my hand reaching out in a helpless sort of gesture.
Years have gone by now, and the title of this show Out of the Shadows, reflects my coming through the darker, shadowy world of trauma to the more colorful creative life I have today. It also relates to a lifelong fascination I have had with shadows.
The images in this show started with photos either totally made up of shadows or where a shadow is a primary focus in the piece. I have then used an online photo editing program to digitally alter them in some way. I was so excited when I first got into this process. I was amazed at what I could create by changing the color, texture or shape of the original images.
In the beginning, some of the wonderful results came about by chance, as I explored the digital possibilities. Then I became more purposeful in how I transformed them, while still being open to what I might stumble upon.
Light and dark. Day and night. One complements the other. I now have a deeper appreciation of the way shadows can accentuate the light in the image and in my life.
“Even in darkness it is possible to create light…” -Elie Weisel
“Life is an endless journey of self-discovery, a dance between the shadows and the light…” -Rumi
“Life only unfolds in moments. The healing power of mindfulness lies in living each of those moments as fully as we can, accepting it as it is as we open to what comes next–in the next moment of now.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn
Photography by William Fridrich
