2026 Exhibition Announced
Exhibition Statement – Golden Hour
“To translate the invisible wind by the water it sculpts in passing.”
Robert Bresson
I sit in the bush waiting for my Cyanotype to develop. I watch how the ‘invisible wind’ moves the fern on the paper and I have these thoughts;
Just beyond everything immaculate, beyond every idea of perfection we chase, are the imperfections that create balance - the natural order of things.
A hidden valley towards Golden Bay. A festival of joyful folk and music. A fire pit and a cool river - yet the sandflies bite.
An idyllic beach in early evening light, all to myself, reflections in the sand, the crest of a wave illuminated - yet scars on the landscape remain.
In my mixed media work, I embrace imperfections and accidental interventions, disruptions that shift the outcome in unexpected ways. Allowing the clay to dictate its form or the paint to find its own path. Against my instinct for control, I try to let go, often finding that this is where true beauty lies.
We often seek this notion of the “golden hour.” In DJ set times, it can mean curating the perfect mood. In medicine, a critical window to save a life. In photography, a precious time when the light is considered ‘best’. But long before it became technical, “golden hour” lived in literature and poetry as a fleeting moment of love, beauty, or happiness.
Is golden hour a metaphor for our modern way of being? Does it shape how we live? Craving moments, waiting for something better, more perfect, always just out of reach? When perhaps the golden hour is already here.
On my runs or walks, I select fallen leaves or leaf skeletons to include in my work. Searching for the ‘best’ one. Then I realise: each is equally beautiful. Like our own lives, each lifespan feels significant, yet becomes almost irrelevant within the vastness of the forest.
Storms come and go, as will we.
Nature restores. Life finds a way, beyond our human reach.
Photography reminds us to see each moment as transitory. To really look. To really see. To be here, now.
Be at ease with the idea that nothing is, nor ever will be, perfect. That imperfections allow balance to exist.
Let go of searching for the golden hour.
Jago Neal - 2026