About Graham Gavin

Graham was born in Glasgow in 1970 and was swiftly moved to a concrete replica of Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl. Graham's obsessive consumption of music saw him gravitate towards a group of likeminded individuals from school who were happy to scrimp and save their school dinner money in order to attend legendary gigs held at Glasgow's Splash One Happening night. Under the influence of this group of friends (who were now operating as the Beefheart-inspired noise merchants Stretcheads) Graham set out emulate his likeminded brethren by forming various bands throughout the 90s, including Ganger, Lugworm and Subliminal Girls. The latter of these was formed in the very early 90s with John McKeown of The Yummy Fur, who met Graham spinning records with future Lungleg guitarist Annie Spandex at the now flattened Rooftops Nightclub on Sauchiehall Street. McKeown's entourage allowed for new friendships of bands and bonds to be formed, many of which have stood the test of time.

Around this period, Graham picked up a camera and set about capturing his inner circle of pals, the majority of whom were involved in music in Glasgow in some shape or form. Using his Glaswegian terrain as a studio, Graham documented his friends' glorious faces, clothing and swagger in a decade-long series of evolving moments. He also looked beyond this close group of individuals and considered the changes that Glasgow was undergoing throughout its main thoroughfares. Shops and cafes that once operated as bustling hubs were now beginning to slide into economic and unfashionable blackholes and their limited time left on many a main drag was recorded by Graham's inquisitive lens. Thankfully, cafes such as Jaconelli's on Maryhill Road still stand the test of time, but the majority have disappeared and now only operate as a vague memory.

During the mid-90s, Graham's talents with a camera were frequently being commissioned by his friends when photographs were required for their independent record releases and publicity purposes. Humour and a sense of warmth often shine through his black-and-white images and gave the viewer a sense of fun and adventure of the moment the image was snapped.

Running parallel with taking photographs, Graham frequently held successful residencies spinning Jazz and Soul and all those other sundries at celebrated venues throughout Glasgow such as The 13th Note Club (situated next to the Clyde) and The 13th Cafe located at King Street as well as the much-missed R.A.F.A. Club in the west of the city. His playing and passion for music allowed him to share stages throughout the 90s with groups such as Stereolab, Broadcast and Trans Am. Closer to home, he often played on bills with Vesuvius Records artistes, including The Yummy Fur and Lungleg, as well as The Pastels, Long Fin Killie and El Hombre Trajeado. Stints of playing with Jad Fair (frontman of Half Japanese) led to a blossoming musical relationship with improvisor Caroline Kraabel, and stages have also been shared with prolific figures such as Charles Hayward of This Heat and Mike Watt of The Minutemen.

Leaving photography behind in the 2000s, Graham decided to get academic, take life a little more seriously, and swap the film of photography for that of Film Studies at university.