Across a career spanning more than 50 years, photographer Mark Adams has focused his lens on Aotearoa New Zealand, exploring its land, peoples and its complex, multilayered histories. A retrospective of his practice – Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua – is currently on display on Level 2 of the Gallery.
This display brings together material from the Real Pictures Archive to highlight two significant bodies of Adams’ work. One is the series of photographs created in Rotorua at the invitation of then director of the Rotorua Art Gallery, John Perry. Produced from 1978 to 1986, the 60 photographs were exhibited in Pakeha • Maori — A Conjuncture / Maori • Pakeha — He Waerenga Ururoa in Rotorua in 1986 and at Auckland’s Real Pictures Gallery in 1987. As Adams recalls, the works are ‘a subjective response to the region … [and] the conjuncture formed of the cultures inhabiting it’.
The second series highlighted is Adams’ documentation of Samoan tatau (tattoo) in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In 1978, through a commission from Craft Australia magazine, Adams was introduced to Auckland tufuga tatatau (expert tattooists) including Su‘a Suluape Paulo II. The portraits of tatau he took over the following years were exhibited at Real Pictures Gallery in the 1982 exhibition O Le Tā Tatau, Samoan Tattooing. Thirty years later, Adams continues to be welcomed into homes to photograph the process of receiving the pe’a (men’s waist-to-knee tattoo).
These two exhibitions highlight Adams’ enduring interest in cross-cultural exchanges and the strong relationships formed through his practice, which have allowed him to witness these intimate ceremonies and places of cultural significance. The photographs were taken on a large format camera, seen here in a photograph by Haru Sameshima, which Adams continues to use.

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