cizucu Presents: 'Liminal Space' Award Announcement | Challenge #379

'Liminal Space' is a global online photo contest organized by cizucu, open to any creator registered on cizucu. Outstanding works are curated from the submissions, aiming to discover new talent as a platform and to support the community as a whole.

This edition’s theme was ‘Uninhabited Spaces Bearing Traces of Human Presence’.

Liminal spaces refer to transitional areas such as corridors, staircases, roads, or hotels—spaces encountered in the midst of movement or passage. Around 2019, the concept gained attention as an internet meme and spread as an aesthetic expressing the eeriness and nostalgia of deserted places.
Spaces devoid of people exude a quietness that feels slightly detached from reality. The ambiguous sensation of being 'in-between' is the allure of liminal spaces.
Empty hallways, shops after closing, train platforms awaiting the morning—though no one is pictured, the presence of someone remains palpable.

For this contest, we invited works that not only evoke unease, but also liminality imbued with nostalgia, tranquility, loneliness, or comfort.

Now, let us introduce the submissions and the selected works.

wayfarer0915

cizucu Editorial Team
The crumbling walls and pillars, the decaying ceiling, all retain a shadow of a place abandoned by human hands. Yet, the sunlight streaming through the gaps in the roof and the greenery stretching across the floor suggest that this space is not simply heading toward its end.

Thomas_J

📷 LEICA Q2

cizucu Editorial Team
A piano without a player and chairs with no one seated. This pairing evokes the lingering sense that music and conversation filled the space just moments ago. As your gaze is drawn toward the stairs in the back, the interior appears both as a real place and as a scene from memory.

shinesnooping

📷 FUJIFILM X100VI

cizucu Editorial Team
The fluorescent lights illuminating the dim parking lot further accentuate the emptiness. The orderly white lines and repeating pillars, designed to accommodate cars and people, now seem to serve only their structural purpose. It feels as if you have wandered into a place slightly removed from everyday life, standing at the threshold between the visible and hidden sides of reality.

廖さん

cizucu Editorial Team
The fragments of paper and notes covering the wall preserve the existence and time of countless people who spent moments here, as if in a vacuum. Though no one is present, the voices and footsteps of passersby seem to linger, almost audible through the artwork.

Tom Garde

📷 PENTAX67

cizucu Editorial Team
The workbench, sewing machine, and scattered fabrics suggest someone has just stepped away in the midst of creation. The large face floating in the background gazes over the entire room like a memory or a phantom, shifting the real workspace into another dimension. While capturing the absence of people, the sense of being watched lingers, creating a palpable tension.

ゆきむら

cizucu Editorial Team
The damp, blue-lit underground passage is a place meant for passage, yet it carries a sense of claustrophobia, as if the exit is lost. The low, overhanging ceiling, the fences dividing the path, and the stairs blocking the way ahead all contribute to a sense of inescapability, even as you head toward the exit. Amid the silence of emptiness, there is a heaviness, as if sinking into the depths of reality.

We hope you enjoyed this feature.

The works gathered for this contest, precisely because they do not depict people, strongly evoke the traces of time and actions left behind. In spaces that should be empty, voices, footsteps, and the presence of daily life rise to the surface. Capturing these lingering presences was at the heart of this theme.