Tiarna Herczeg
NEW COLLECTION
Salt and Clay
Tiarna Herczeg (she/her) is a proud First Nations and Hungarian woman, born and raised on Dharug Country and currently practising on Gadigal land (Sydney). She identifies as Yalanji/Kuku Nyungkul, with family ties extending to Hopevale, Cherbourg, and Laura, QLD. Weaving inspiration from these diverse landscapes, her artistic practice is deeply personal and intuitive — a way of staying grounded and spiritually connected amidst a life shaped by movement and relocation.
For Herczeg, art is a ritual of listening and learning. She paints without preconceived notions, guided instead by feeling and ancestral memory. Her understanding of intuition is shaped by the belief that gesture is inherited — carried through generations, land, and lived experience. Her work becomes a conversation between memory and place, body and land, silence and sound.
Herczeg moves through the world carrying both the deep sense of belonging that comes from living on the Country she’s connected to, and the layered experience of being a third-generation immigrant through her Hungarian lineage. Her practice lives in the in-between — shaped by both presence and displacement, memory and movement. This complexity allows her to create work that speaks from multiple cultural and emotional positions at once — not as contradiction, but as a form of wholeness.
Themes of home, identity, and belonging are central to her practice. These emerge through loose, gestural brushstrokes and vivid colours that channel the emotional resonance of Country.
This exploration extends beyond painting into sculpture, sound, and installation. These mediums allow her to investigate her cultural narrative through immersive, sensory experiences that reflect her connection to place, energy, and spirit.
Herczeg’s approach is process-led and guided by embodied and intuitive knowledge. Rather than seeking control or resolution, she creates from a place of listening — where each mark or sound is a response to what is felt, not forced. Drawing from inherited gesture and relational ways of knowing, her work reflects a dialogue between artist, material, and memory. This is not spontaneity for its own sake, but a way of staying connected — to Country, to spirit, and to the quiet intelligence of the body.
For Herczeg, art is a ritual of listening and learning. She paints without preconceived notions, guided instead by feeling and ancestral memory. Her understanding of intuition is shaped by the belief that gesture is inherited — carried through generations, land, and lived experience. Her work becomes a conversation between memory and place, body and land, silence and sound.
Herczeg moves through the world carrying both the deep sense of belonging that comes from living on the Country she’s connected to, and the layered experience of being a third-generation immigrant through her Hungarian lineage. Her practice lives in the in-between — shaped by both presence and displacement, memory and movement. This complexity allows her to create work that speaks from multiple cultural and emotional positions at once — not as contradiction, but as a form of wholeness.
Themes of home, identity, and belonging are central to her practice. These emerge through loose, gestural brushstrokes and vivid colours that channel the emotional resonance of Country.
“The colours I use don’t just look like a place, they feel like one. I think colour can speak in ways words can’t. It holds grief, breath, rest, memory. For me, colour isn’t decoration or theory — it’s a way of communicating what can’t be named. It’s ancestral and emotional. It’s the body remembering.”
This exploration extends beyond painting into sculpture, sound, and installation. These mediums allow her to investigate her cultural narrative through immersive, sensory experiences that reflect her connection to place, energy, and spirit.
Herczeg’s approach is process-led and guided by embodied and intuitive knowledge. Rather than seeking control or resolution, she creates from a place of listening — where each mark or sound is a response to what is felt, not forced. Drawing from inherited gesture and relational ways of knowing, her work reflects a dialogue between artist, material, and memory. This is not spontaneity for its own sake, but a way of staying connected — to Country, to spirit, and to the quiet intelligence of the body.
Solo exhibitions
2025 Girl In The Clouds - Apollo Gallery, Budapest
2024 I Came Through The Sky - Laundry Gallery
2024 Through Coloured Glass - Curatorial+Co.
2024 R M Williams
2023 Wungariji- Curatorial and Co
2022 Kadabal Bangkarr - Cement Fondu
2022 Ngadiku- Koskela
2022 JUWA-Hake House of Art
2021 Jana bayan buku dungan nagyu bawajin- Airspace projects
Group Exhibitions
2024 DARING - Curatorial+Co.
2023 Friends Faves-The Design Files.
2023 Sydney Contemporary - Curatorial and Co.
2022 Into the everywhen-Craft Victoria.
2022 Don't be a stranger-Brunswick Street Gallery.
2022 While you were sleeping-aMBUSH Gallery.
2025 Girl In The Clouds - Apollo Gallery, Budapest
2024 I Came Through The Sky - Laundry Gallery
2024 Through Coloured Glass - Curatorial+Co.
2024 R M Williams
2023 Wungariji- Curatorial and Co
2022 Kadabal Bangkarr - Cement Fondu
2022 Ngadiku- Koskela
2022 JUWA-Hake House of Art
2021 Jana bayan buku dungan nagyu bawajin- Airspace projects
Group Exhibitions
2024 DARING - Curatorial+Co.
2023 Friends Faves-The Design Files.
2023 Sydney Contemporary - Curatorial and Co.
2022 Into the everywhen-Craft Victoria.
2022 Don't be a stranger-Brunswick Street Gallery.
2022 While you were sleeping-aMBUSH Gallery.
2022 Colour story-Ginger Finch ACT.
2022 Trio-Michael Reid Northern Beaches.
2021 The Other Art fair.
2020 Urns of 2020-Gaffa Gallery.
2022 Trio-Michael Reid Northern Beaches.
2021 The Other Art fair.
2020 Urns of 2020-Gaffa Gallery.
Commissions + Public Art
2024 The Sundays, Hamilton Island QLD , Collection of artworks and murals.
2024 The Harbord Hotel NSW, Mural.
2024 Lendlease Hicksons Park Barangaroo, Artwork commission for public space furniture.
2024 Sofitel NSW, Mural
2024 ArtsMatter, Rowan Sallvage x Tiarna Herczeg . Digital performance
2023 Urban Logistics co , Mural 200sqm.
2023 Double rug , Tiarna Herczeg rug collection.
2023 Soy clay, Nail polish collaboration.
2023 koskela x Charter Hall project “ Maku Wunkun”.
2022 Mode festival , Bizzarro, Artistic director.
2022 Soft Stir magazine, First Nations curator.
2022 Reach Out Australia (NFP), Digital artwork commission.
2022 UNSW Commission for Joyce Wu/ Ending domestic violence.
Selected Publications
2025 Vogue Australia , Print, Artist profile
2024 Women's weekly March issue , Print, Artist profile
2024 The design files ( featuring 4 articles) ,Online, Artist profile and artwork feature.
2024 Russh Magazine, Print, Artist profile
2024 The Local project, Online, Artwork feature
2023 Hunter and Folk Magazine, Online, Artist feature
2023 The Urban List, Online, Cultural
Represented by Curatorial and Co, Woolloomooloo, Sydney.
2024 The Sundays, Hamilton Island QLD , Collection of artworks and murals.
2024 The Harbord Hotel NSW, Mural.
2024 Lendlease Hicksons Park Barangaroo, Artwork commission for public space furniture.
2024 Sofitel NSW, Mural
2024 ArtsMatter, Rowan Sallvage x Tiarna Herczeg . Digital performance
2023 Urban Logistics co , Mural 200sqm.
2023 Double rug , Tiarna Herczeg rug collection.
2023 Soy clay, Nail polish collaboration.
2023 koskela x Charter Hall project “ Maku Wunkun”.
2022 Mode festival , Bizzarro, Artistic director.
2022 Soft Stir magazine, First Nations curator.
2022 Reach Out Australia (NFP), Digital artwork commission.
2022 UNSW Commission for Joyce Wu/ Ending domestic violence.
Selected Publications
2025 Vogue Australia , Print, Artist profile
2024 Women's weekly March issue , Print, Artist profile
2024 The design files ( featuring 4 articles) ,Online, Artist profile and artwork feature.
2024 Russh Magazine, Print, Artist profile
2024 The Local project, Online, Artwork feature
2023 Hunter and Folk Magazine, Online, Artist feature
2023 The Urban List, Online, Cultural
Represented by Curatorial and Co, Woolloomooloo, Sydney.
Recent
works



For all commissions, Exhibitions and collaboration inquiries please contact :
Hello@curatorialandco.com
For anything else:
Tiarnaherczeg@gmail.com
Hello@curatorialandco.com
For anything else:
Tiarnaherczeg@gmail.com
Salt and Clay
Salt Air on Skin: On Stillness, Colour, and Feeling Whole
By Tiarna Herczeg
These paintings were made during a time of returning — to myself, to stillness, and to Butchulla Country, following the passing of my grandmother. I spent time in her home, in the salt air of Hervey Bay, where everything seemed to slow down. The air in May there has a softness that you feel in your body. It holds you. Even through grief, I found a sense of calm — a moment where everything, just briefly, felt whole.
The work carries that moment. Not in a literal or narrative way, but in feeling. I’m not trying to explain the energy behind it — I’m moving it, translating it into form. I work intuitively, without plans. The colours and shapes come from memory and sensation: the land, the sky, the warmth of light on skin, stories held in soil. The stillness I found is not empty — it’s spacious. That’s what I’m painting toward.
Colour plays a big role in this — it holds so much more than people realise. Sky blues, sandy ochres, and warm neutrals… they don’t just look like a place, they feel like one. I think colour can speak in ways words can’t. It holds grief, breath, rest, memory. For me, colour isn’t decoration or theory — it’s a way of communicating what can’t be named. It’s ancestral and emotional. It’s the body remembering.
When I paint, I let gestures guide me. I’m not trying to control the outcome — I’m listening to what needs to come through. I think of gestures as something inherited. It’s not just me painting; it’s all the places and people that make me who I am. I think about my identity a lot — being Yalanji, Kuku Nyungkul and Hungarian — and painting is how I stay connected to those roots, even when I’ve had to move. It keeps me grounded.
The way the colours meet on the canvas — resting beside one another like generations — reflects that. My work is about relationships: between memory and place, between body and land, between silence and sound. I’m drawn to painting because it allows me to create space. Not just physical space, but emotional and spiritual space. A space where you can pause, sit with feeling, and maybe find a small moment of peace.
I’ve also been thinking about how time moves differently in stillness. I’m interested in the way art can hold a moment — how it shifts our perception and invites us to slow down. But I want to understand that in a way that reflects my cultural knowledge. For me, time isn’t linear, and silence isn’t empty. Country holds memory, spirit, and knowledge — and through painting, I’m listening to that. I’m responding to it. It’s my way of being present, of honouring what’s passed through me.
All works available via Curatorial and Co.

Acrylic on canvas
120x150cmThere’s a calm here, a sense of being sheltered. The painting reflects that hush: a reminder of how grounded and small we can feel when we’re surrounded by something ancient and alive. I remember walking through a rainforest of tall shady trees and feeling protected. I stood under them with my mum and dad. I am safe.
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Part of me left
Acrylic on canvas
50x60cmThis painting is an anchor in the collection as it is the one painting that doesnt mark a memory but just embodied feelings. It marks this feeling of emptiness after loss, but is grounded by its colours- blue and orange/ earth and water. The things that hold us and keep us alive- a full circle.
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Acrylic on canvas
60x90cm
The form rises with confidence and steadiness, holding space like my family. like me.
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Acrylic on canvas
60x90cmThe painting isn’t about representing light literally, but emotionally — the feeling of light as a kind of tenderness. I was so present during this time i wasnt present at all, i had time to notice the light hitting the ground, it bouncing off the water and on my skin. I feel this all the time.
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Acrylic on canvas
150x120cmA painting that captures the feeling of the sun soaking up the water , the tide going back and seeing the markings of the day on the mud. Each moment a story to be told. The land remembers and never forgets.
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Acrylic on canvas
50x60cmIt’s a quiet plea, a yearning for something beyond the natural order—something to bend, to shift, to hold onto what feels lost. This work reflects a moment suspended in pain and longing, where the heart resists healing because it is still reaching for what it desperately wishes to keep.
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Acrylic on canvas
120x150cm The orange is the grounding aspect- land.
Burgundy the darkness around me.
The green is me - nature.
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Acrylic on canvas
150x120cm
Hervey bay is partially enclosed by Kgari so the water is flat. It holds onto things a little longer, but feels calm.
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Acrylic on canvas
120x150cm
A memory of white sheets, wet clothes and washed linen. I see a cycle of women and myself.
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Acrylic on canvas
50x60cm
I see my great Grandfather out in a field. He comes for us when it is our time to go. I remember looking out and knowing... he is making his way.
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Acrylic on canvas
120x150cm
I’m standing on cold tiles after walking on hot concrete.
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Acrylic on birch
80x100cmThis work holds a memory passed down — one that speaks to survival, silence, and the quiet strength of a child navigating a world shaped by violence.
The title refers to a moment in my great grandfather’s life, a Butchulla man, who once found safety beneath the surface — under a lilypad- in an act of isntinct.
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Acrylic on canvas
60x90cmThis work kind of marks the edge of something. It’s a reflection of the moment before I allowed myself to be still — before I realised that what I was running from needed to be sat with, not escaped. ︎

Acrylic on canvas
150x120cmThis work follows a direction — a physical movement through landscape, and the emotional undercurrent that often travels with it. ︎