The Adam Portraiture Award 2024

Osborne Gallery
Touring from New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata
The biennial Adam Portraiture Award competition for painted portraits is held at The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata and generously sponsored by the Adam Foundation. The Adam Portraiture Award provides painters from Aotearoa at all stages of their careers with the opportunity to showcase their talents on the national stage, while also playing an important role in recording the changing face of Aotearoa.
The inaugural competition was held in 2000 and called the National Portrait Competition. It has been known as the Adam Portraiture Award since 2002. Since 2006 the winning artworks have been acquired into the New Zealand Portrait Gallery collection.
First Prize: $20,000
Runner up: $2,500
People’s Choice: $2,500
The Adam Portraiture Award is generously funded by the Adam Foundation
The Adam Portraiture Award is a biennial competition for painted portraits of New Zealanders, by New Zealanders and presents a breadth of responses to identity and representation.
2024 judges were Felicity Milburn, lead Curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, and Karl Maughan, one of New Zealand’s most recognised artists.
The finalists’ exhibition was on display at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata from 23 May to 11 August. The exhibition is now touring to multiple venues around the country.
Image: Winner (detail)
Maryanne Shearman
Tuhi-Ao
oil on canvas
2024
“Tuhi-Ao Bailey is one of Aotearoa’s leading climate activists, an unwavering voice for kaitiakitanga. She has always struck me as a person living her kaupapa, authentic to a fault. I initially planned on capturing her characteristic solemn expression; I hoped her mournful eyes would disrupt us, but in the end she and I decided on this pose - a full smile mid-kōrero, and a gesture which catches the light. She is standing in the Parihaka food-forest, next to the awa Waitotoroa. Ko ia te whenua, ko te whenua ko ia.”