Mark Adams

Name
Mark Adams
Date of birth
1949
Place of birth
Christchurch/Canterbury (region)/New Zealand
Gender
Male
Biography
Mark Adams was born in Linwood, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, in 1949. He studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Christchurch (graduating in 1970), where he taught himself large-format analogue photography.
Since then, he has photographed all over the country focusing on the cultural convergences of postcolonial Aotearoa New Zealand, its landscapes and its people. He is notable for his groundbreaking work photographing Samoan tatau practices and revisiting sites of historical importance in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Adams has been the recipient of several residencies and awards, including the Southland Art Foundation Artist in Residence in 1997; the Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award, both in 2009.
His work has also been the subject of a number of publications, including Tatau: Samoan Tattoo, New Zealand Art, Global Culture, published by Te Papa Press in 2010 and reissued in a new edition in 2023. In 1996, Adams co-founded Studio La Gonda with photographer Haru Sameshima. Adams’ work is held in major New Zealand institutions, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongawera, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa and Te Unua Museum of Southland. His work is also held in international collections, including National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery and University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
In 2025 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki organised a retrospective exhibition of Adams’ work, Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua, which was accompanied by a substantial book, co-published with Massey University Press.
Adams lives and works in Oxford, Te Waipounamu, and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.