Landmark book on Māori art on Ockhams shortlist

Widely described as a “landmark” achievement, Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art (AUP, 2024) by Deidre Brown and Ngarino Ellis, with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, has been shortlisted for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Deidre Brown  (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu)  is a professor of architecture and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) a professor of art history at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.

Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (1943-2014, Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) was an art historian specialising in Māori, New Zealand and European art, and a former head of the Elam School of Fine Arts.

Spanning hundreds of years, Toi Te Mana features a diverse selection of Māori art, from ancestral weaving to the Venice Biennale in 600 richly illustrated pages.

The book is divided into three separate and overlapping categories, mirroring the legendary 'three baskets of knowledge’, including: raranga (plaiting), whatu (weaving), moko (tattoo), whakairo (carving), rākai (jewellery), kākahu (textiles), whare (architecture), toi whenua (rock art), painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation art, digital media and film.

Brown says it’s a great honour to be shortlisted, “and to have the mana of Māori art and the cultural importance of art and architectural history recognised".

"And also to see the vision Auckland University Press had for this book come about, which is the result of 12 years of research, including four years of obtaining permissions for the 500 illustrations”.

Ellis says they’re both very excited to see Māori research recognised and celebrated.

“We hope the many artists, community members, museum and gallery staff and scholars who provided information and access to taonga for this project also feel justifiably proud of this recognition. Ka mau te wehi.”

The judges' panel called the book, "A magnum opus with an ambitious kaupapa: to establish a Māori framework for indigenous art history... destined to become a standard New Zealand art history text that will feature on tertiary reading lists and library shelves, both in New Zealand and overseas, for years to come.

They said it was "flawlessly designed and extensively illustrated and makes excellent use of archival institutional sources."

Both authors have won Best First Book prizes at the awards before; Ellis for A Whakapapa of Tradition: one hundred years of Ngāti Porou carving 1830-1930 (AUP, 2016) in 2017, and Brown for Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rākau: Northland Māori Wood Carving (Reed, 2003) in 2004.

Research for the book was supported with funding from Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, Royal Society Te Apārangi and Ngā Pae o Te Maramatanga, a National Centre of Research Excellence.

Also in the running in the same category is Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer by Athol McCredie; Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa by Matiu Baker, Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald and Katie Rice; and Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson.

And in the poetry category, In the Half Light of a Dying Day (AUP, 2024), a collection by acclaimed poet, essayist and novelist C.K. Stead, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, is a finalist in the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

The winners will be announced at a public ceremony on 14 May during the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.