Yvonne  Shaw is an Auckland based artist, whose works explore the unconscious and conscious ways we reveal ourselves to others. Utilising her camera as an analytical device to investigate encounters, she depicts social behaviors in frozen moments of human interaction.

 

Her photographs situate subjects in transitional urban spaces. The city provides a multi-faceted background, setting the scene for multiple narratives. The Residual is an ongoing series, consisting of photographs which hover between staged fiction and the authentic awkwardness of strangers encountering each other. The series draws attention to moments of transference, when unconscious memories that are evoked by proximity to others are communicated by gesture and expression.

 

She completed a Bachelor of Design and  Visual Arts at Unitec in 2015 and was awarded a Senior  Scholar award and the Highest Achievement Award in Photography and Media  Arts. In 2017 she completed a Master of Fine Arts with First Class Honours at Elam School of Fine  Arts. She has twice been a finalist in the NZ Photobook of the Year Awards and is a co-founder of the artist collective The Essence Archive.