MsConor Clarke

My research engages with the living world, ecology, landscape, and concepts around nature, wildness, distance and preservation. I am especially interested in that which is unseen, uncertain, overlooked or barely perceptible, especially within everyday urban environments. With the use of various lenses and imaging technologies, I explore how the camera mediates our perception of, and relationship with, the non-human world.

I revisit themes of water, land and mountains in their many forms, scales, and manifestations, more recently focusing in on the endangered Kaikōura tītī (Hutton's shearwater), once an important mahinga kai (customary food source) to our people (Ngāi Tahu – Ngāti Kurī). These ancient, nocturnal creatures are endemic to Kaikōura, and are the only seabirds in the world to nest and breed in an alpine environment. They navigate by stars, scent, magnetic force and instinct, following their noses to find their way, particularly when sight-seeing is not an option. Theirs is a survival story that mirrors my own, and their particular form of being and wayfinding has become a guiding metaphor for my process of knowledge-gathering and art-making.

Recent exhibitions include 'Eau de Plume' at Te Tuhi (2026); 'Slow Burn: Women in Photography' at Te Papa Tongarewa (2026); 'Whāia Te Taniwha' at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2025); 'Four Rivers: Politics of Water' at Studiokino & Civic, Basel Academy of Art & Design (2025); 'Site Seeing' at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi (2025); 'Night Writing' at Two Rooms (2025); 'Paemanu: Awa Toi' at Queensland Art Gallery, Asia Pacific Triennial (2024), 'A Fire that Blackened the Rocks' at Te Atamira, Queenstown – an offsite project between The Physics Room & Blue Oyster (2024); 'Vital Machinery II' at Hastings City Art Gallery (2024); and 'Legacy Issues' at Ashburton Art Gallery (2024). I am represented by Two Rooms (Tāmaki Makaurau), Jonathan Smart Gallery (Ōtautahi), and recently entered into a relationship with PEG Gallery (Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington).

Although I work mainly with medium-format camera and colour negative film, my interests and skills span fully analogue and digital photographic technologies, as well as moving-image and audio recording. Approaches and methods are determined by the nature of each project, shifting accordingly.

I am actively involved in the community and proud to sit on the following boards/organisations: The Physics Room Charitable Trust as trustee, The Māori Women's Welfare League as a member of the Rāpaki branch, The Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust as Deputy Chair, and an active member of Te Haumi o Mangāmāunu Whānau.