Mary MacGregor-Reid is a video and photographic artist from Aotearoa New Zealand. She has a particular interest in alchemical process and human experience of the otherworldly.
Mary works primarily with photography and video, with much of her process unfolding before she ever gets behind the camera. She builds the objects, props, and sculptural elements that appear in her images, treating the set as an extension of the final work rather than a backdrop.
Her work draws on symbolic traditions, especially alchemy, which used coded imagery to describe processes of transformation. The adoption of character archetypes is intrinsic to much esoteric ritual along with gesture, costume and the use of symbolic objects. Her practice sits alongside a renewed contemporary interest in early twentieth‑century artists, particularly women, who engaged with esoteric ideas as part of their creative language. She is drawn to the ways these artists used ritual and symbolic language to convey forms of knowledge that sit outside the everyday.
Across moving image, object making, and installation, She explores how gestures, atmospheres, and symbolic residues persist across time. Slow motion, light, and material surfaces allow her to create images that unfold at a contemplative pace, images that feel slowed down or temporarily suspended and invite the viewer to engage with the otherworldly.
She has recently (2026) completed a historical book which ties into her art practice. A narrative biography of George Watson MacGregor Reid, an extraordinary and largely misunderstood figure whose life intersected with many of the major cultural, political, and spiritual movements of the late Victorian and early twentieth century period. Drawing on twelve years of original archival and primary source research, the book reconstructs the story behind a man who repeatedly reinvented himself, leaving behind a trail of trade union activism, health reform ventures, mystic Orders, and the modern druidic revival. This book is planned to be published late 2026.
Solo Exhibitions
2026 - ‘Celestial Bodies’ NorthArt, Auckland, NZ (upcoming)
2024 - ‘Suburban Tartarus’, Contemporary Art Space, New Plymouth, NZ
2023 - ‘When We Have Spoken Openly We Have Said Nothing’, Contemporary Art Space, New Plymouth, NZ
2022 - ‘Celestial Bodies’ Solo multichannel video installation, Contemporary Art Space, New Plymouth, NZ
2019 - ‘Rubedo’ Solo exhibition, Kingsize, Auckland, NZ
2018 - ‘Nigredo’ Solo exhibition, Kingsize, Auckland, NZ
Group Exhibitions
2025 - ‘Where the Veil is Thinnest’ with Coven of Era, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2024 - ‘The 68th Blake Prize’ Finalist exhibiton, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Aus
2024 - ‘Collections and Connections’ Group exhibition, Left Bank Gallery, Greymouth, NZ
2023 - ‘Yours Truly x’ Group exhibition, Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, NZ
2023 - ’Private Viewing’ Group exhibition, Contemporary Art Space, New Plymouth, NZ
2022 - ‘Loving Across Distances’ Group exhibition, Ahuriri Contemporary, Napier, NZ
2022 - ‘We all think we are good people’ Group exhibition, Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, NZ
2021 - ‘We all think we are good people’ Group exhibition, Contemporary Art Space, New Plymouth, NZ
2021 - ‘Communicating Vessels’, Photospace Gallery, Wellington, NZ with Hayley Theyers and Kate Rampling
2020 - ‘Communicating Vessels’, Black Asterisk, Auckland for the with Hayley Theyers and Kate Rampling, Auckland Festival of Photography, NZ
2019 - ‘Bitter Harvest’ Group exhibition, Black Asterisk, Auckland, NZ
2019 - ‘What Remains’ Group exhibition, DEMO, Auckland, NZ
2019 - ‘Occulture Salon’ Group exhibition, Wellington, NZ
2016 - ‘Esoteric Salon’ Group exhibition, Buratti Gallery, Perth, Australia
2016 - ‘Art Ache’ Group exhibition, Golden Dawn, Auckland, NZ
2016 - ‘Glaister Ennor Award’ finalists exhibition, Sanderson Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Public Art Lectures
2025 - “New Contexts for Alchemical Art’ Magic in Contemporary Art, Amy Hale and Treadwells London
2017 - “Embodying Character in Art and the Occult” lecture, City Gallery, Wellington for the ‘Occulture’ exhibition programme
Residencies
2017 - January-February ‘Silence, Awareness, Existence’ residency at Arteles Residency, Hämeenkyrö, Finland