Emily Albertengo-Shaw

My project explored how presence and absence shape our perception of everyday environments. The brief encouraged me to consider site, audience, and experience through installation and projection. I focused on minimal light in dark public spaces to question societal routines and how they influence our understanding of time, place, and being.

Developed through night-time filming across Tāmaki Makaurau, the work used fixed shots of quiet public moments such as shop signs, crosswalks, bridges, to capture movement within stillness. These recordings were projected onto suspended black mesh fabric, allowing light and sound to bleed through and create a ghostly, immersive atmosphere. I also designed large mechanical sculptural forms that rotated within the space, grounding the installation and encouraging viewers to move around and experience shifting perspectives.

Through this project, I considered how perception changes when familiar environments are viewed differently. My design contributes to rethinking how we inhabit space and time, while inviting audiences to slow down, notice presence within absence, and question the routines that define existence.