For the past decade, Glen Jorna has been quietly documenting the city.
Not with a camera alone, but with his hands; walking Wellington’s streets, collecting fragments of paper, torn posters, and weathered textures. These overlooked remnants, softened by rain, marked by time, and layered with human presence: become the raw material for his work.
Originally from Australia, it was love that brought Glen to Wellington, where he now lives in a charming cottage in Mt Victoria with his husband Andy and their dog, Lumi. Their home, much like his practice, reflects a deep appreciation for art; layered, considered, and quietly expressive.
Back in the studio, Glen’s collected fragments are meticulously soaked, separated, dried, and reassembled. Layer by layer, gesture by gesture, he builds surfaces that echo the physical memory of the streets themselves. His work honours imperfection, erosion, and transformation — an ongoing exploration of what he calls “the beauty in decay.”
Alongside his practice, Glen is a specialist visual art teacher at Wellesley College : a role he loves for the freedom it gives him to share his passion for art with his students.
This year marks a significant moment. Not only is Glen celebrating ten years of exhibiting at the NZ Art Show, but also a milestone birthday; a year of reflection, evolution, and quiet celebration.
And fittingly, he is marking it with something bold.
For some time now, an idea has been brewing: a way to bring together the many threads of his practice into one cohesive, immersive work. At the 2026 NZ Art Show, that idea comes to life as Urban Relics.
So what is Urban Relics?
At its heart, it is an imperfect grid.
Forty 50 × 50 cm mixed-media panels, installed together as a single work. Inspired by Wellington’s weathered walls and layered surfaces, each panel holds its own story: fragments of typography, traces of colour, marks of removal and repair.
From a distance, the grid reads as one large abstract composition, a visual map of accumulated time. Up close, it reveals itself in pieces: intimate, tactile, and deeply human.
“The works showcase all of my different styles over the last decade,” Glen says. “Each piece is an ‘urban relic’: something that feels both found and made.”
But Urban Relics is not static. As the exhibition unfolds and works are collected, the grid will begin to shift. Panels will disappear, gaps will emerge, and the composition will slowly transform; becoming a living artwork shaped by those who engage with it.
In keeping with Glen’s belief that art should remain accessible, most works are priced to invite instinctive collecting. A few may even be given away; a quiet gesture that reinforces one of his core ideas: that value is not always visible on the surface.
Over ten years, Glen Jorna has become a steady and thoughtful presence at the NZ Art Show. His work doesn’t demand attention, it rewards it.
It asks you to slow down.
To look closer.
To find meaning in what might otherwise be overlooked.With Urban Relics, he brings together a decade of making into something both personal and expansive: a portrait of a city, of time passing, and of an artist deeply attuned to the life of surfaces.
Each panel holds a fragment of Wellington.
Each collector becomes part of the story.
