Tuesday 9 March 2026
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is delighted to announce that Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua has been shortlisted in the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction category at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
The richly illustrated publication accompanies the Gallery’s major survey exhibition Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua, presented at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2025, and opened at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū on 7 March 2026.
Developed over many years, the publication began as a Gallery project and was published in partnership with Massey University Press.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Director of Auckland Art Gallery, Dr Zara Stanhope, says, “Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua exemplifies the Gallery’s approach to art publishing, which seeks to convey the contribution artists make to our shared culture and to the lives of people who encounter their work. This book demonstrates our commitment to research-based curation and to representing the histories of Aotearoa New Zealand and its peoples. We are delighted for Mark, whose five-decade project and singular artistic vision is so beautifully embodied and carefully interpreted in this publication.”
Dr Sarah Farrar, author of the book and Head of Curatorial and Learning at Auckland Art Gallery, says, “Bringing Adams’ work together in one publication makes visible the abiding interests that have run through his practice for over five decades, and the questions it continues to raise about place, history and representation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Producing a book of this scale is a collective effort, involving numerous Gallery staff across curatorial, editorial, photography, research library and retail teams.”
This is the fifth Auckland Art Gallery publication to be shortlisted in this category in recent years, following Robin White: Something Is Happening Here (co-published with Te Papa Press, shortlist 2023), McCahon Country (co-published with Penguin Random House NZ, 2020 shortlist), Gordon Walters: New Vision (co-published with Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2018 shortlist) and Ann Shelton: Dark Matter (2017 shortlist).
Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua is available for purchase at booksellers throughout New Zealand, including the Auckland Art Gallery Shop. The publication has been supported by the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation and Kriselle Baker and Richard Douglas.