Past touring exhibitions

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: David Jones, Study of Esther by the fig tree, 2024, oil on linen (Highly Commended)

A picture is a whole world unto itself.

Step beyond the frame and see what you find. Background Matters asks what can be revealed when we view the sitter of a portrait in the expanded field of their surroundings. In bringing the background to the fore, this exhibition subverts the hierarchy of subject and setting to consider the portraiture of Aotearoa New Zealand from a fresh vantage point.

Image: Nicolette Page, Carmen, Oil on board, 2012. Collection New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Gift of the artist

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: Tessa Meyer, Sunshine, oil on board (finalist)

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: David Jones, Study of Esther by the fig tree, 2024, oil on linen (Highly Commended)

A picture is a whole world unto itself.

Step beyond the frame and see what you find. Background Matters asks what can be revealed when we view the sitter of a portrait in the expanded field of their surroundings. In bringing the background to the fore, this exhibition subverts the hierarchy of subject and setting to consider the portraiture of Aotearoa New Zealand from a fresh vantage point.

Image: Nicolette Page, Carmen, Oil on board, 2012. Collection New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Gift of the artist

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: Tessa Meyer, Sunshine, oil on board (finalist)

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Tia Barrett, A Time Capsule of Aroha, photography (finalist)

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Mohi Toko, Aunty Lucy, photography (finalist)

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: Duncan Pepe Long, Snake Eyes, oil paint (finalist)

This monumental series of works by Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe traces her matriarchal whakapapa (genealogy) and honours her female tūpuna (ancestors).

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Ani Ligaliga, Lines of whakapapa (People’s Choice Award winner)

Image: Rita Angus in Taradale, 1987, Collection Art House Trust

Love and marriage may be universal, but their mutual inclusivity is not. What can a wedding photograph tell us about the love shared between two people? How can portraiture better inform us about the experience of being in love? 

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: David Jones, Study of Esther by the fig tree, 2024, oil on linen (Highly Commended)

A picture is a whole world unto itself.

Step beyond the frame and see what you find. Background Matters asks what can be revealed when we view the sitter of a portrait in the expanded field of their surroundings. In bringing the background to the fore, this exhibition subverts the hierarchy of subject and setting to consider the portraiture of Aotearoa New Zealand from a fresh vantage point.

Image: Nicolette Page, Carmen, Oil on board, 2012. Collection New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Gift of the artist

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: Tessa Meyer, Sunshine, oil on board (finalist)

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Tia Barrett, A Time Capsule of Aroha, photography (finalist)

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Mohi Toko, Aunty Lucy, photography (finalist)

The Adam Portraiture Award is New Zealand’s premier portrait prize.

Image: Duncan Pepe Long, Snake Eyes, oil paint (finalist)

This monumental series of works by Hariata Ropata-Tangahoe traces her matriarchal whakapapa (genealogy) and honours her female tūpuna (ancestors).

The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award is a biennial competition that provides emerging Māori artists with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording and celebrating tūpuna and their stories.

Image: Ani Ligaliga, Lines of whakapapa (People’s Choice Award winner)

Image: Rita Angus in Taradale, 1987, Collection Art House Trust

Love and marriage may be universal, but their mutual inclusivity is not. What can a wedding photograph tell us about the love shared between two people? How can portraiture better inform us about the experience of being in love?