Tiarna Herczeg (she/her) is a proud First Nations and Hungarian woman and artist living on Gadigal lands. She identifies as Kuku Yalanji/Kuku Nyungkul Warra with family ties from Hopevale, Cherbourg and Laura, in Far North Queensland. Herczeg was born on Dharug Country in Western Sydney and spent a majority of her life in between there, Rockhampton and the Blue Mountains. She has developed her own style using her practice as a way of telling her own stories and sharing significant places related to her identity. 

Tiarna’s practice is intuitive and instinctive as she often paints without a direct idea, but rather uses her practice as a ritual for listening and learning. Tiarna’s approach to painting comes from a sense of urgency regarding her spiritual and cultural identity. Living off Country and frequently moving around, the act of painting, for Tiarna, becomes a vehicle for groundedness. She works to disconnect from the idea of ‘painting’ and instead tap into spirituality, relinquishing the fear of painting a perfect artwork.

This fearlessness manifests in loose, large, gestural brush strokes with vibrant colours and organic compositions highlighting the familiarity, richness and vitality of Country. There is a spiritual exchange of energy between Tiarna and her work; listening and opening up to be guided by cultural intuition, remembering places of which she has lived, visited and dreamt. 

Tiarna is represented by Curatorial & Co, Sydney.