Zoë Fitzherbert

Winner of the 2025 Henry Jones Art Prize, Zoë Fitzherbert’s practice brings together instinct and precision: swathes of shifting, emotive colour layered with fine, map-like linework inspired by the cartographic conventions of her great-grandfather. 

Raised in the misted hills of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Zoë now paints from her studio overlooking nipaluna/Hobart.

“Driving home from Cradle Mountain in late spring, my route twisted down the steep slopes in a wash of colour.  Shockingly beautiful glimpses of the ranges came and went, receding in crags of blue and brown;  the foreground held a deep, inky green.  Even the sky felt full of colour.

Back in the studio, I started sketching and mixing from memory, guided only by the impressions that remained.  Cethana I and Cethana II are the result of this journey.

Alongside these works, I developed a large autumnal diptych, capturing the view from my studio.  When the Air Turns reflects a landscape I am fortunate to encounter daily, and yet it is never the same.  At this time of year, looking out over the hills, I can smell the seasonal shift in the air before I even step outside.  There is a melancholy beauty to this season;  a quiet stirring that revives memories of all autumns that have come before.”