Photographer's Profile

Siobhan Costigan

New Zealand

Siobhán Costigan is a conceptual fine-art photographer based in Wellington, New Zealand. Working exclusively in staged self-portrait photography, she uses the body as both subject and instrument to examine vigilance, environmental instability, and the ways institutional systems shape our relationship to visibility and place. Her long-form photographic projects unfold across hotel interiors, rain-covered landscapes, and nocturnal spaces, where self-portraiture becomes a method of investigating memory, psychological presence, ecological grief, and belonging. Rather than documenting personal experience directly, Costigan constructs carefully staged images that explore the tension between containment and refuge, the body and landscape, and observation and autonomy. Originally from South Africa, Costigan has exhibited internationally and her work has been recognised through awards including 1st Place at the ND Awards, the European Photography Awards, London Photography Awards, PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, Chromatic Awards, reFocus Awards, the Aesthetica Art Prize Longlist, and numerous other international photography competitions. Her practice is centred on developing sustained bodies of work that combine conceptual rigour with a restrained visual language, positioning photography as a space for reflection on identity, place, and the lived experience of contemporary life.