EMMA HERCUS
New ZealandEmma Hercus is a painter based in Aotearoa New Zealand whose paintings are often populated by wide-eyed, naïve-style figures, native birds, foliage, and domestic or communal moments. Recent recognition includes the NZ National Contemporary Art Award (2022) and the Pātaka Art Awards Open Award (2024).
Early Life and Career
Hercus grew up in Taumarunui and now lives in Plimmerton, with the ocean and shoreline near her home serving as recurring reference points in her work. Although often described through the directness and instinctive quality of her paintings, her practice also includes formal study: she studied part-time for three years at The Learning Connexion in Taita, Wellington, earning a diploma in creativity before consolidating her painting practice. She is currently studying a Masters in Fine Art at Whitecliffe in Auckland.
Method and Material
A distinctive aspect of her method is the building up and scratching back of pigment, producing layered surfaces in which earlier colours and marks remain visible beneath the final image. This approach gives the work a weathered, lived-in quality and supports the sense that her paintings are less fixed depictions than reconstructed memories, soaked in the emotional texture of recollection and nostalgia.
Themes and Context
Hercus’s work explores togetherness, kinship, women’s lives, inherited stories, and the relationship between people and place. Her paintings are often rooted in small social rituals and remembered encounters, but they also open onto broader ideas of belonging, ancestry, and how family narratives are carried forward through images.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Hercus has built a visible exhibition history across dealer and artist-run spaces in New Zealand, with solo shows including Together at Twenty Six Gallery, Kindred at Twenty Six Gallery, True Story at Muse Gallery, The Heart is an Octopus at Railway Street Gallery, Neck of the Woods at Soul Gallery, and The Foragers at Twenty Six Gallery. Her work has also appeared in group and fair contexts such as Aotearoa Art Fair, the Friends of Pātaka Arts Trail, and the Pātaka Art Awards exhibition.
Recognition has followed steadily, most notably with the NZ National Contemporary Art Award in 2022 and the Open Award at the Pātaka Art Awards in 2024. She has also been finalist in the 2026 Adam Portraiture Award, the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards, the NZ Painting and Printmaking Awards, and the Craigs Aspiring Art Prize.
Emma Hercus FAQs
What is Emma Hercus best known for?
Emma Hercus is best known for figurative paintings that combine raw colour and careful placement of pattern, naïve-style faces, native birds and foliage, and scenes shaped by memory and everyday life in Aotearoa. Her work is especially recognised for its folkloric warmth and layered surfaces.
Where can I see Emma Hercus’s work?
Emma Hercus work has been shown at Twenty Six Gallery, Railway Street Gallery, Muse Gallery, Soul Gallery, and Aotearoa Art Fair, among other venues in New Zealand. Information about current works and exhibitions is also available through her website and representing galleries.
What awards has Emma Hercus won?
Emma Hercus won the NZ National Contemporary Art Award in 2022 and the Open Award at the Pātaka Art Awards in 2024. She has also been shortlisted for several other New Zealand painting prizes, including the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards, The Adam Portraiture Award and the Craigs Aspiring Art Prize.
Ocula | 2026
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