This body of work explores the fragile threshold between the resilience of the natural world and the encroaching shadows of environmental uncertainty.

Ora Obscura – the unseen boundary
By Helen Casey-MacDuff

Exhibiting: 15 May – 6 June, 2026

“This body of work explores the fragile threshold between the resilience of the natural world and the encroaching shadows of environmental uncertainty.

Working primarily through the alla prima method, these oil paintings are created in the immediate presence of the subject, capturing a sense of urgency that mirrors the current state of our ecosystems. The natural forms depicted are not merely literal; they are portraits of a landscape in flux, rendered with a dramatic play of light and shadow to highlight the intricate, often overlooked interconnectedness of all living things.

Influenced by the unique ecology of the Hauraki Plains and the Coromandel Peninsula, this body of work serves as a visual meditation on our local environment.
Our environment embodies histories of use, extraction, and negotiation. These works do not seek to illustrate those histories directly, but to remain with their residues—held in air, in light, in the fragile space between.”