Mr Jonathan Kay staff profile picture

Contact details +6449793693

Jonathan Kay BDes (Hons), MFA

Senior Lecturer

School of Art

Projects such as 'Cold Listening' (The Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki - CoCA), 'Icebound' (Hastings Art Gallery), 'Cryosphere' (Jhana Millers Gallery + Ashburton Art Gallery), and 'Negative Mass' (Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland) navigate spaces that remain largely unknown while engaging with narratives of contemporary exploration.

My practice focuses on rendering unseen phenomena whilst challenging the notions of landscape. I work with photography and video, but often engage with digital/alternative technologies to extend and distort the role of the photographic document. By framing my investigation in the locality of the unknown, my works explore mythological, scientific and imaginative agents that allow access to landscapes that are intangible or are isolated from everyday experience. Complementing this mode of enquiry is my ongoing engagement with climate‑change concerns, and with how photography can foster an emotional connection to the more‑than‑human world.

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Professional

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Design (Photography) Honours - Massey University (2009)
  • Masters of Fine Arts - Massey University (2013)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Photography, cameraless photography, environmental art, science and art, photographic installation, photographic technology, photography and criticism, landscape and place, more-than-human relationships, video/moving image. 

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Lens-based Practice (190503): Studies In Creative Arts And Writing (190000): Visual Arts and Crafts (190500)

Research Outputs

Journal

Kay, J., & Podmore, C. (2021). An Immemorial. Plates. (3) Retrieved from https://platesjournal.com/an-immemorial
[Journal article]Authored by: Kay, J.
Chubb, J., & Kay, J. (2021). Negative Mass. Drain. 17(1) Retrieved from http://drainmag.com/negative-mass/
[Journal article]Authored by: Kay, J.Edited by: Patrick, M.

Creative Work

Kay, J. (2025) Cross section. [Exhibition] Ramp Gallery
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2025) Weather compositions. [Exhibition] Webbs Gallery
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2024) Ice Aperture #1, Span, Observation #2, Ice Aperture #2, Warm ice, Cold hands #2, Warm ice, Cold hands #9.. [Exhibition] Webb’s Auction House, Wellington
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2024) Elemental Apparitions # 2, 2014, Archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle, 923 x 609 mm.. [Exhibition] Te Whare Hēra
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2024) Cold hands, warm ice, 2023, photogram from Haupapa/Tasman glacier ice on archival fibre, 508 x 610.. [Exhibition] Te Whare Hēra
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.

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Kay, J. (2024, July 13). Cold Listening. The Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.
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Kay, J. (2024, February 11). Ka Mua Ka Muri - Creative Communities. (No. of Pieces: 1) Exhibition & Concert, Midway Surf Rescue Community Lounge, Gisborne.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.Contributed to by: Kay, J.
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Podmore, C., & Kay, J. (2023, October 18). Care taking. (No. of Pieces: 8) Meanwhile Gallery.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.Contributed to by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2022, November 5). Icebound. Hastings City Art Gallery.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.
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Kay, J. (2022, March 24). Cryosphere. Jhana Millers Gallery.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2022, February 4). Cryosphere. Ashburton Art Gallery.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2022) Dead Ice. [Exhibition] Online LINK 2021 Conference
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2019) Ice Field. [Exhibition] (Cyanotype on cotton, 115 x 280cm). Masterton: Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, 30 March 2019 - 26 May 2019
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
Kay, J. (2019) Negative Mass. [Exhibition] (Cyanotype photogram on cotton). Takutai Square/Atrium on Takutai Square, Auckland, New Zealand: Gus Fisher Gallery, 10 July 2019 - 7 September 2019
[Artwork]Authored by: Kay, J.
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McQuarrie, CL. (2016, June 1). To the Aether. [12 previously unpublished digital and darkroom framed photographic prints, various sizes]. Curation of exhibition at 30upstairs Gallery, Wellington, including artists: Jonathan Kay, Shaun Matthews and Bonny Stewart-MacDonald. Wellington, New Zealand. 01 - 25 Jun 2016.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J., McQuarrie, C.
McQuarrie, CL. (2016, April 7). From the Aether. [16 digital prints in 8 pre-existing light boxes, 1.2m x 3m]. Curation of exhibition at Wellington City Council Courtenay Place Park Light Boxes, including artists: Jonathan Kay, Shaun Matthews and Bonny Stewart-MacDonald. Wellington, New Zealand. 07 Apr - 31 Jul 2016.
[Exhibition]Authored by: Kay, J., McQuarrie, C.

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Conference

Kay, J.Alternative Photographic Practices – Cyanotype & Lumen Printing. . Wintec/Te Pūkenga - City Campus, Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, New Zealand
[Conference Other]Authored by: Kay, J.
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Kay, J.Dead Ice. . Online
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Kay, J.
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Other

Kay, J. (2023, January). Visiting Speaker - Jonathan Kay. Presented at Roland Levinsky Building Lecture Theatre, Plymouth University.
[Oral Presentation]Authored by: Kay, J.
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Media and Links

Media

  • 31 May 2023 - Online
    Site-Specific Cyanotype: Creation to Installation
    Alternative Processes are not easy. There's chemicals, seasons, environment, surfaces. A lot of variables are involved. It's even harder when they become site-specific. We interviewed Jonathan Kay to
  • 15 Sep 2025 - Online
    Folk House Darkroom
    Instagram takeover sharing my photographic practice
  • 12 Nov 2025 - Online
    Pondering Water, Glass, Branches and Birdnests
    Review by Peter Dornauf of 'Critical Mass'. Curated by Megan Lyon & Julia Christey at Ramp Gallery.
  • 08 Oct 2022 - Online
    Cryosphere - Online Exhibition
    Online exhibition and essay. Cryosphere has been exhibited at the Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington and the Ashburton Art Gallery and will show at the Hastings City Art Gallery in late 2022.
  • 04 Nov 2022 - Other
    Old and new photo techniques meet at Te Whare Toi
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  • 03 Jul 2019 - Online
    Britomart People, Arts and Cultural
    Interview for Britomart People, Arts and Culture, 3 July, 2019.
  • 01 Oct 2022 - Online
    CyanUtopia - Episode 7: Jonathan Kay
    CyanUtopia is an independent production produced, recorded and edited by Marolyn Krasner.
  • 01 Jun 2018 - Magazine
    Art for Ice’s Sake
    Art for Ice’s Sake, Art Zone. Issue 77, p.48 - 49, 2018
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Other Links