Artwork:
I work with reclaimed textiles and sourced vintage, building them into layered compositions that sit between control and letting go.
Some areas are left raw and deliberate, while others are worked more freely. I move between the two, allowing the surface to hold both structure and instinct. Contrasting textiles are brought together and held in tension, with seams left visible.
I’m drawn to materials that already carry a sense of time. In a culture that favours youth, I’m interested in what ages.
Worn, softened, and marked elements are kept visible, not refined away.
The work leans toward landscape, not as a fixed image, but as something continuously forming. Shaped by repetition, accumulation, and forces beyond control. There’s a quiet parallel in how surfaces change over time, and how we do too.
BIO:
New Zealand visual artist Meg Gallagher creates contemporary abstract works using reclaimed textiles, sourced vintage, and denim. Her practice centres on transforming time-held materials into layered compositions that sit between abstraction and landscape.
Originally trained in fashion design, Gallagher spent over a decade working within the international fashion industry with brands including Camilla and Marc, Insight, and Ksubi, where she developed a specialised expertise in denim design. This material knowledge continues to inform her art practice, where vintage textiles and production offcuts are reworked into richly textured surfaces.
Born in the deep south of New Zealand, Gallagher grew up amongst the rugged landscapes of Otago and was immersed in the arts from an early age through her father’s involvement with the city’s art centre. She later completed a Bachelor of Design (First Class Honours) in Fashion Design and was named One to Watch by Vogue Italia, receiving a scholarship to study at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan.
Working from her studio in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Gallagher’s work is shaped by an ongoing connection to landscape, material, and the rhythms of the natural environment. Colour, gesture, and surface move between control and instinct, reflecting the contrasts held within the work itself.
Gallagher has exhibited widely in contemporary gallery spaces across New Zealand and internationally, including exhibitions in Queenstown, Dunedin, Melbourne, Sydney, and Milan. In 2025 she was invited as artist in residence at Bullo River Station in the Northern Territory, creating a bespoke work later auctioned for charity. Her recent solo exhibition Still Hungry was presented at Astor Bristed Gallery in Arrowtown. Her work is held in private collections internationally.