SARAH ALBISSER
Wellington-based artist Sarah Albisser draws on her background as a contemporary dancer and choreographer to inform a practice rooted in movement, emotion, and self-expression. Over the past decade, she has developed a distinctive series of black-and-white portraits, focusing primarily on female form and characters that capture both fleeting gestures and emotional states.
Figures in Albisser’s work often appear suspended in motion—diving, walking, or caught in moments of introspection—set against stark geometric forms that both contain and challenge them. These simplified, universal bodies become symbols of human struggle, expression, achievement, and transience. Her graphic, minimal style—rooted in the simplicity of black-and-white oppositions—invites an interplay between presence and absence. There is a subtle tension in her compositions, an open-ended narrative that reflects the way we move through the world, always in transition. Through movement, Albisser reveals not only the body’s gesture, but the emotional weight it carries. These spare, surreal tableaux offer space for the viewer to reflect on their own journey, and the quiet dramas of being. Albisser works with a diverse range of techniques and materials—including ink, acrylics, perspex, and thread. Many of her works feature intentionally unfinished areas, inviting viewers to engage with the piece and complete its meaning through their own interpretation. Sarah Albisser’s work has been exhibited internationally in Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, and Los Angeles, and is held in private collections worldwide. |
Sarah Albisser creates striking, movement-driven works that explore emotion, tension, and the space between presence and absence |