Jana Wood

I have been a practising artist since 2007. I started exhibiting my art in 2010. I am of Māori, Scottish, Irish, and English descent. My iwi affiliations are Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Kikopiri of Kāpiti Coast. I whakapapa to the Tainui waka. I live and work part-time in Te Pūaha o Waikato, Port Waikato and part-time in Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland.

I have a semi-abstract painting practice that explores the intersection between place, time, wairua, ecology and colonisation. I draw on my bicultural heritage to navigate this space. I utilise both organic and industrial materials, and use ancient methodologies together with modern painting methods to distill a feeling of ephemeral natural phenomena and slow change. I frequently utilise the grid as a soft metaphor for colonisation, both within imagery and with framing devices.

A slow and deep connection has developed with the land and it’s waters at Te Pũaha o Waikato. It has become my Turangawaewae, my spiritual place.

I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts (University of Auckland). I hold a Certificate of Mauri Ora from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Notable Exhibitions include:

Three Painters, McLeavey Gallery, https://mcleaveygallery.com/exhibitions/three-painters/

Mothermother Onepu Shifting Sands Shifting Time Franklin Arts Centre, https://www.mothermother.co.nz/iterations/onepu

All-at-Once-Ness, Homestead Gallery, Corbans Art Estate, https://ceac.org.nz/exhibitions/all-at-once-ness

The Table Aotearoa Artfair https://www.mothermother.co.nz/iterations/aaf2023

Notable Press includes:

Art New Zealand Number 195, 2025 “Onepũ Shifting Sands/Shifting Time” by Dina Jezdic

“Painting at the edge of the World” 2023, by Nina Dyer https://ceac.org.nz/exhibitions/all-at-once-ness

The Aucklander, August 2011, “Bricks and Mortified”

Notable Awards:

3-time Selected Finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards, Winner Zinnie Douglas Award, Waiheke Art Awards, Selected Finalist Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award, 2-time Selected Finalist Estuary Art Awards.

Work is held in collections across Aotearoa New Zealand, and overseas.

Public Collections: Arts House Trust Collection (Wallace Collection) Tamaki Makaurau Auckland.

See Bio section – for full exhibition history

Thank you for visiting, nga mihi me te ora