Conor Clarke

Conor Clarke (Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu; Irish, Welsh) is a Lecturer in Photography at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury's Faculty of Arts, where he has been employed since July 2019. Based in Ōtautahi–Christchurch, Aotearoa–New Zealand, Clarke is represented by Two Rooms Gallery in Auckland and Jonathan Smart Gallery in Christchurch.

Clarke's research engages with the living world, ecology, landscape, and concepts around nature and wildness. He is especially interested in that which is unseen, uncertain, overlooked, or barely perceptible – in remote locations or within industrial and everyday urban settings. Through various lenses and imaging technologies, he explores how the camera mediates our understanding of the non-human world, interrogating the authority of sight and the ethics of image capture. His recent work focuses on the endangered Kaikōura tītī (Hutton's shearwater) as a guiding metaphor for knowledge-gathering and art-making.

Clarke's artistic practice spans medium-format camera and color negative film, fully analogue and digital photographic technologies, moving-image, and audio recording. His notable recent exhibitions include 'Site Seeing' at City Gallery Wellington (2025), 'Night Writing' at Two Rooms (2025), 'Paemanu: Awa Toi' at Queensland Art Gallery (2024), and 'Peaks & Troughs' at Jonathan Smart Gallery (2023). His groundbreaking 'As far as the eye can reach' series (2020) was created in collaboration with members of the blind and low vision community in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

• Best Series, Renaissance Photography Prize, London (2015)
• IdeasTap Award, Portfolio Review 2015 @ NRW-Forum (2015)
• Paemanu funding via Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2023)
• Rangi Ruru Girls' School Artist in Residence (2023)
• Harkness Fund for collaboration with blind + low vision community (2020)

Clarke is actively involved in community organizations, serving as a trustee of The Physics Room Charitable Trust, a member of the Rāpaki branch of The Māori Women's Welfare League, and Deputy Chair of The Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust. His academic background includes a Master of Fine Arts with first class honors from the University of Canterbury (2021-2025) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland (2001-2004).