Together
Emma Hercus
12 July – 2 August 2025
With kind wide faces and a washy layering of colour, Together by Emma Hercus reminds us that we are social creatures, bound to one another through shared conversation and a day spent giggling side by side, Kuaka flying above. Each canvas rendered with folkloric care, a charming naïvity and distinctly Aotearoa quality that Hercus uses to hold the breath of an intimate scene and nail it to the wall. A yearning to document our affections, to be wrapped up and absorbed by in years to come.
Together centres on the scenes we share amongst friends. Amongst family. The warmth from your lover next to you in bed, the dance of after dinner dishes, and the hum of a communal flat in the evening. The moments where eyes meet over laughter that force our hand to a camera and are talked about fondly in reminiscence. Leading ponies around a paddock, lighting a secret shared cigarette. Eye-contact, joy, tears, touch, presence and shared silence. Hercus reminds us that we are part of something larger than ourselves, larger than tall Kauri trees and our long coastlines, something beating and belonging - community, family, and togetherness.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
ARTWORKS
The Artist
Each of Emma Hercus’s canvases open her world of washy colour and whimsy a little further. Reflective of her rural upbringing, with its many characters and rich whenua, she never strays far from the coast.
Known for her kind naïve faces, surrounded by native foliage and animals, Hercus lays many blankets of pigment. Rich colours that she then scratches back and recalls back to the layers beneath - where has this world been? In what light has it been cast once before? Central to each is the Plimmerton-based artist’s love of people - their stories, energy and shared moments. Often with vague memories of togetherness and Aotearoa’s landscape composed in scenes of folkloric warmth in the background.