This lecture explores Adams’ work over the last 50 years, beginning with his arresting images of Samoan tatau made in Auckland suburbs in the late 1970s and early 1980s and particularly focusing on his exploration of James Cook’s voyages to the Pacific.
Through his lens, Adams acts as a witness to histories that are powerful, complex, and more than ever unresolved.
Nicholas Thomas first visited Polynesia in 1984 to undertake research in the Marquesas Islands. He has since travelled extensively across the Pacific, and written on Indigenous histories, empire and art; his books include Islanders: The Pacific in the Age of Empire (2012), which was awarded the Wolfson History Prize and Gauguin and Polynesia (2024). Since 2006, he has been Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
$2 per hour to a max of $12 on weekends and a $12 flat rate for weekday evenings at The Civic car park. Find out more.