About

Gemma O’Neill is a 2024 graduate of the Ilam School of Fine Arts with a BFA First-Class Honours degree in Painting. Originating from Victoria, Canada and Whangārei, she is currently based in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. Her practice dances between the figurative and abstract, fantasy and the sublime, and she primarily works in oils on canvas and paper. Gemma has been featured in multiple exhibitions, including the Eastside Gallery’s Stride by Stride (2026 and 2024), Ilam Select (2024 and 2023), and the CoCA Gallery’s Whakawhanaungatanga (2023).

Through avid engagement with the fantasy genre, Gemma seeks to create morsels of dreams and imaginings that instigate a convergence between imagination and reality. Her work may be considered representations of fantastical creatures and scapes; portals to realms that may bear similarities to our own, yet appear alien.