Taking women in their twenties as her subjects, MacCarthy sheds light on the monotony associated with the in-between stages of life. A woman stands outside Surrey Quays at night waiting for her date to arrive - her colourful dress at odds with the darker, homogenous attire of London’s commuters. An open microwave is transformed into a surreal portal of white light, illuminating a girl caught in the simple act of preparing dinner. Young women are captured in transitory states; staring vacantly out of a car window, framed underneath blood red bunting at the tail end of a house party, clutching a water bottle before the daily walk to bed. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the isolating quality of leaving home and university in the quest for work - there are no group photos or tableaus in MacCarthy’s work; instead, the women stand alone.

Taking women in their twenties as her subjects, MacCarthy sheds light on the monotony associated with the in-between stages of life.

Taking women in their 20s MacCarthy's subjects, the focus for her series of photographs has been the mundanity of the in-between state; the expectations of life versus the reality, the shock of leaving education and entering into the so-called ‘real’ world, looking after oneself after leaving home. How do we actually fill our time? Eating, sleeping, scrolling, commuting, hanging around, waiting. Women are captured in transitory states, staring vacantly out of a car window, framed underneath blood red bunting at the tail end of a house party. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the isolating quality of leaving home and university in the quest for work – there are no group photos; instead, the women stand alone.

It goes on and on 

‘I am so fucking sick of this stinky little buttcrack of a town!’ yells a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Gregg Araki’s 2004 cult coming-of-age film, Mysterious Skin. Gordon-Levitt’s character, who is on the cusp of adulthood, is stuck in the mundane setting of Hutchinson, Kansas, when he really wants to be living it up in New York as a gay prostitute. This grisly in-between stage of life is exemplified through his actions; he bicycles around the deserted town, hangs upside down on a swing frame at a children’s playground, or travels on the subway, headphones in, listening to music. Isabel MacCarthy’s collection of photographs, ‘It goes on and on,’ is similarly occupied with the mundanity of the in-between state; the expectations of life versus the reality, the shock of leaving education and entering into the so called ‘real’ world, and the menial quality of looking after oneself after leaving home. How do we actually fill our time? eatingsleeping scrolling commuting hanging aroundwaitingTaking women in their twenties as her subjects, MacCarthy sheds light on the monotony associated with the in-between stages of life. A woman stands outside Surrey Quays at night waiting for her date to arrive - her colourful dress at odds with the darker, homogenous attire of London’s commuters. An open microwave is transformed into a surreal portal of white light, illuminating a girl caught in the simple act of preparing dinner. Young women are captured in transitory states; staring vacantly out of a car window, framed underneath blood red bunting at the tail end of a house party, clutching a water bottle before the daily walk to bed. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the isolating quality of leaving home and university in the quest for work - there are no group photos or tableaus in MacCarthy’s work; instead, the women stand alone. Where do they reside? bedroombusshoptraincar - Violet Conroy

Isabel MacCarthy

Process and lighting experiments 

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Taking women in their twenties as her subjects, MacCarthy sheds light on the monotony associated with the in-between stages of life. A woman stands outside Surrey Quays at night waiting for her date to arrive - her colourful dress at odds with the darker, homogenous attire of ...

Isabel MacCarthy

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Research and process

Process and lighting experiments

development notes and ideas

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Isabel MacCarthy

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