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Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2027 Walters Prize. Held every three years, the Walters Prize is widely regarded as Aotearoa New Zealand’s most prestigious award for contemporary art. Over its 24-year history, the prize has provided a critical platform for contemporary New Zealand art both nationally and internationally. The jury for the award is briefed to select outstanding artwork/s exhibited between February 2023 and February 2026. The exhibition of new work, held in March 2027, is designed to stimulate critical debate and dialogue amongst the cultural life of Tāmaki Makaurau and wider New Zealand.
Previous prize winners include Ana Iti (born 1989, Te Rarawa) selected by judge Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung in 2024, and in 2021 Mataaho Collective and Maureen Lander selected by judge Kate Fowle.
This year the four finalists were selected by a jury of Tyson Campbell (Te Rarawa/Ngāti Maniapoto), artist and curator; Abby Cunnane, Manutaki Director, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery; Becky Hemus, independent curator and writer; Hanahiva Rose, contemporary art curator at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
The nominated artists are:
Edith Amituanai (born 1980, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland) is a New Zealand-born Samoan lens-based artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Amituanai was nominated for Vaimoe, 2024, first exhibited in Edith Amituanai and Sione Tuívailala Monū: Toloa Tales, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetū, 2024.
Richard Frater (born 1984, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington) lives and works in Berlin. Frater was nominated for Nicky’s conversion, 2024, first exhibited at Klosterruine Berlin, 2024 and Lett Thomas, Auckland, 2025.
Ammon Ngakuru (born 1993, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland) lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Ngakuru was nominated for Three Scenes, commissioned for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2025.
Sorawit Songsataya (born 1986, Chiang Mai, Thailand) is a Thai-New Zealand artist currently based in Bangkok. Songsataya was nominated for the exhibition Fibrous Soul, presented at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2024
In making their selection, the jury made the following comments: “These artists have made an outstanding contribution to contemporary art in Aotearoa over the last three years, a period marked by political unrest, escalating conflicts, and environmental devastation. Rather than amplifying this turbulence through spectacle, they each respond to the disorientation of our times by turning an acute attention toward local and personal narratives, while expanding the material and conceptual possibilities of their practices.”
Director of Auckland Art Gallery Dr Zara Stanhope says, “Their selection is a poignant reminder of the breadth and range of art across Aotearoa New Zealand and a new generation of artist activity currently shaping the visual arts as a healthy and vital part of the cultural sector.”
The finalists are invited to present new work or their nominated work at the Gallery in a public exhibition, scheduled to open in March 2027.
Auckland Art Gallery’s Senior Curator, Global Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland, who works closely with the artists to realise the prize exhibition and says, “These finalists express materially rich works with unique, often humorous and intellectually rewarding content. It’s not surprising that they each carry a large following of supporters who are looking to ask new questions of art, and to explore its potential,” says Conland.
The winner of the Walters Prize will be announced in mid-2027, selected by an international judge who is invited to Aotearoa New Zealand to view the artworks and assess their merits.
The Walters Prize founding benefactors and principal donors are Erika and Robin Congreve and Dame Jenny Gibbs. Major donors are Lady Dayle Mace and Chris and Charlotte Swasbrook.
