Stef Galea is a Maltese photographer based in London whose work bridges fashion, fine art, and cultural storytelling. A Central Saint Martins alumna, Galea's practice is playful in both composition and narrative, often bringing to life strong characters inspired by personal encounters and memories of growing up on the Mediterranean island.

Her debut photographic book, Bodies of Water / Ħallini Nsir il-Baħar, is a poetic exploration of identity, geography, and memory. Shot between Malta and the UK, the publication reflects Galea's ongoing dialogue between the two islands - two places surrounded by the same element yet divided by history and ideology. Through cinematic and symbolic imagery, she attempts to articulate what happens when certainties dissolve, touching upon perceptions of women, shame, religion, bodies, and the lingering British-colonial shadow that Malta carries into modernity.

The book was designed by Studio Matthew Roland Bannister and features original poetry by Maltese poet Elizabeth Grech. It was launched in both countries: first at Tenderbooks, London, and recently at the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta. Bound in deep blue - the colour of the sea -its landscape pages curve like waves, inviting the reader into a tactile journey between two shores. Each copy carries a 100-year-old unique Maltese postage stamp, originally designed when the island was still under British rule - a quiet reminder of the cultural currents that continue to ebb and flow between nations, bodies, and time.

Galea's images have been featured in Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and GQ, and her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Valletta Contemporary, Central Saint Martins, Nettle House, and the Delegation of the EU to the United States in Washington D.C. Her commercial clients include Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo, Repossi, and Vivienne Westwood.

Her visual language is deeply rooted in personal experience, often drawing from the emotional and cultural contrasts between her Maltese upbringing and her life in London. Water, in her work, becomes a metaphor for transformation - a space between identities, between moral rigidity and overwhelming freedom.

The book is sold online.