Lyn Potter reviews Mark Adams: A survey | He kohinga whakaahua by Sarah Farrar and Mark Adams for NZ Booklovers:
‘Mark Adams: A Survey /He Kohinga Whakaahua is a beautifully crafted book, as befits one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed photographers. It is a tribute to the stunning photographs he has produced over the last 50 years, his thoughtful exploration of our postcolonial history and of cross-cultural encounters between Pakeha, Māori, and Pacifica people.
Mark Adams is a man of few words, preferring his photographs to speak for themselves, but the depth of meaning behind them can be difficult for the viewer to decipher. However, in her excellent in-depth essay at the beginning of the book, Sarah Farrar, the author and the Head of Curatorial and Learning at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, has provided us with an excellent window into his life, his photographic process, and his thinking.
When Mark Adams first taught himself photography in the 1970s, he used a large-plate camera, the same kind of camera the popular Burton Brothers, who ran a photographic studio in Dunedin, used in the nineteenth century. But whereas they saw the New Zealand landscape through a colonist’s lens and also took stereotypical pictures of Māori for the tourist trade, Mark Adams sought to be, in his words, ‘the Burton Brothers in reverse.’ He strove to decolonise his thinking and to free himself from this Eurocentric vision.
In this age of digital photography Mark Adams is a rarity. He has continued to use his large-plate camera. Lugging this heavy camera, tripod and lighting equipment around, sometimes to remote locations, is a mission few photographers today would want to emulate. But when enlarged to mural size, the image quality is incomparable! And it suits his personality, his patient, thoughtful approach, and his striving for perfection.
Mark Adams: A Survey/He Kohinga Whakaahua is divided into ten sections showcasing a wide selection of his photographs and includes sites which Captain Cook visited, places where the Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, and his series of photographs of Samoan tatau (tattoo).
Ngāi Tahu trusted him to photograph sites of significance across Waipounamu because of his deep respect for Indigenous kaupapa and cultural practices. He always sought permission from local kaumatua at various marae before taking these photographs. This section in the book has been given the thought-provoking subtitle:
Whenua i mahiratia, haehae ngā tākata.
Land of memories, scarred by people.’
Read the rest of the review here.
