About

Nicky O’Connell is an emerging South African poet and painter based in Centurion. With a background in Psychology and a perspective influenced by her membership in Mensa, Nicky’s work is driven by a fascination with patterns and the unseen threads that bind energy, matter, and meaning.

Her creative practice is a dialogue between medium and metaphor. Working primarily in oils, she creates surreal and conceptual landscapes that are unafraid of color—a nod to her admiration for the old masters like Vincent van Gogh. She often employs perspective and 3D geometry to build worlds that feel both structured and dreamlike.

For Nicky, the visual and the verbal are inseparable. Her paintings, writing, and poetry intersect and inspire one another; a poem often sparks the creation of a canvas, while the stroke of a brush can unlock the rhythm of a verse.

Whether exploring the cataclysmic beauty of the cosmos or the quiet magic within human connection, Nicky's work explores emotional resilience and the intricate patterns that make up our reality. She invites the viewer to look beyond the surface, to follow the threads, and to find their own meaning in the woven tapestry of art and words.

Qualifications: 

Certificate in Graphic Art

Diploma – Advertising Management IMM 

BA Degree – Psychology and Criminology Unisa 

Honours (BA) Psychology Unisa 

BSW (Social Sciences) Social Work Unisa 

Exhibition History:

Tswelopele Exhibition: Climate Crisis – Spektra Art Gallery Centurion (17 June 2025)

Magazines: 

Cover of Rattle Poetry Magazine – California, America (Spring 2026) – Painting titled “ESP”

Reckoning Annual Journal (creative writing on environmental justice) February 2026-  206 East Flint Street Lake Orion, MI 48362, USA - Painting titled:”Hear our Cry”

Competitions: 

Painting titled "Invasion" - Third Place winner in The 300 Project's inaugural issue, Hollowpoint Press, Canada. The painting will be included in a debut anthology, scheduled for publication in June 2026. 

Other: 

Finished“The Duches” a painting for a Terry Pratchett stage production of a “Monstrous Regiment”

A community art competition for children arranged on 30 May 2026 at 103 Napier rd, Lyttelton, Reformed Church.

Publication History: 

The Un-learning (Poem) –Published in LoreleiSignal online magazine (April 2026)

The Dream-Weaver (Short story) – Published in Novellum magazine NY 

The hole in my head (Poem) - Forthcoming in Macabre magazine

The principles of three (Poem) - Forthcoming in Macabre magazine.

Benson’s Girl – forthcoming in the Poetry Lighthouse magazine