The Estuary Art and Ecology Awards are Aotearoa’s annual contemporary art awards with ecology at the core. Artists are invited to research and respond to the Tāmaki Estuary, explore the ecological value of this vital waterway, and encourage action against its pollution. Finalists will be exhibited in the Malcolm Smith Gallery at Uxbridge Arts and Culture and winning artworks will be intelligent and innovative responses to ecology in the field of contemporary art.
Annette Lees is a writer and ecologist with a special interest in landscape-scale conservation and environment programmes and is the author of three non-fiction books: After Dark: Walking into the Nights of Aotearoa (Potton and Burton, 2021), Swim: A Year of Swimming Outdoors in New Zealand (Potton and Burton, 2018), and The Deep Sky Waits on the Outskirts of Town (Reed, 1996). Lees is a graduate of the University of Canterbury (Bachelor of Science, Ecology), Aberystwyth University (Master of Science, Protected Landscape Management), and Te Wananga o Aotearoa (Diploma in Te Reo Māori).
The 18th Estuary Art and Ecology Awards are generously funded by Auckland Council’s Howick Local Board and supported by the Tamaki Estuary Environmental Forum, the Rice Family Partnership, and Gordon Harris The Art & Graphic Store.
