Time Has Wings - a new exhibition by Leigh Schneider
Leigh Schneider returns to both New Zealand and Quirky Fox with a new body of work, ‘Time Has Wings’. Leigh, along with her husband and dog, recently returned to New Zealand bringing the series with her and debuting two new works.
'Time Has Wings,' explores the idea of what is valuable to us in life: love, identity, legacy and hope.
Handmade sculptures and natural materials (most of which were foraged), form the aesthetic foundations of the series. Every element was hand arranged by the artist on set. Each concept was crafted to share a message, took weeks to complete and was created with love for detail. Layered symbolism allows each piece to share its story, with many of the artworks containing hidden elements that await discovery.
One of the pieces in the exhibition, Pupae 2025, took over a year to execute with Leigh making the cocoon enclosing the models.
The 'wings of time' are represented in each artwork by some form of moth. Short-lived, they represent reaching fullness of potential and maturity. Additionally, moths orient themselves by the source of light in the darkness, symbolising the pursuit of illumination and good.
‘Time Has Wings’ opens Wednesday 26 February and runs for six weeks.
About Leigh Schneider
Leigh Schneider is a Conceptual Fine Art Photographer. Born in 1986, she grew up between a small town in farmland Waikato, New Zealand and remote desert in the Outback of Queensland, Australia.
Her interest in photography started at the age of sixteen, when she won a regional competition for analogue portraiture. Leigh went on to gain a Bachelor’s in Computer Graphic Design, working in the field for a decade. In 2017, after a house robbery resulted in the loss of all her work, she decided to reinvest the insurance payout into her first full-frame digital camera. From there, she began to self-teach Fine Art Photography and fell in love with the process and possibilities of the digital medium.
Leigh worked commercially as a Fine Art Photographer and Art Director before moving into the Fine Art world.
Since making her artist debut in 2022, Leigh's work has been exhibited, awarded and published internationally. She has been a finalist multiple times in the prestigious Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize and her pieces have been added to collections across Australasia, Europe and the United States.
As an advocate for mental health, Leigh's work is designed to facilitate important conversations as well as make practical contributions. Her work as an educator and arts facilitator assists others to create from a place of authenticity and purpose.
Leigh is based between New Zealand and Germany with her husband.