Please get in touch by using the contact form, or email AotearoaBigThings [at] gmail [dot] com directly. I will then forward a book info sheet and sample pages for your consideration. Wholesale pricing is available for all stockists, and is in line with traditional profit margins for bookstores.

Absolutely! International and national tourists have an interest in this book; both as a travel guide and a souvenir.

Kids especially love this book because of its small size and fun, colourful graphics – but be mindful that small children may accidentally pull out the fold-out map at the back of the book. The content itself is appropriate for children of all ages.

All of the businesses with a Big Thing on their property are welcome to use the project’s photograph of their Big Thing for their own purposes – please get in touch for a high-resolution image! Photos should be credited as ©2025 Maja Zonjić / Aotearoa Big Things. Otherwise, the photos and film footage are not available for general use, and are copywritten. The copyright and moral rights for all project photos, film footage, as well as book contents (text; images; illustrations) are held by Maja Zonjić. They may not be used or reproduced without prior written permission by the author.

Yes! A few previously published books included some Big Things in Aotearoa (usually, no more than a dozen structures), but those books’ primary focus was on Kiwiana or roadside and popular art more broadly. This is the first book, to the best of my knowledge and research ability, that explicitly focuses on Big Things here.

100 Big Things are included in the book, but so far, through the archival research stage of the academic project (see questions below!), I have found 117 Big Things across the motu. And there will be more! They keep popping up every year, and there are parts of the country I have not travelled for the research.

Across all Big Things in the country, the most commonly represented ‘thing’ is a kiwi: there are nine kiwi bird Big Things across Aotearoa New Zealand! The second most commonly represented ‘thing’ is a golf ball -we have 7 of those- and the third is strawberries; with 5 Big Things. Overall, half of our Big Things are ‘things’ we eat and drink. Within the top 25 most well-known Big Things, 60% represent agricultural subject matter such as sheep, cows, and farming tools.

This book emerges from an extensive three-year academic research project about Big Things locally. Broadly, the research examines whose and what stories are told by Big Things across the country, and suggests that despite their comical appearance which often results in them being discounted as frivolous artefacts of an outdated Kiwiana identity,  Big Things have ongoing importance within evolving tourism, development, ideological, and political agendas across Aotearoa New Zealand at multiple scales.
 
There are two key phases to the research. This book in particular, stems from the first research phase that engaged archival work to catalogue all currently existing Big Thing structures in the country. At present, and despite Big Things being built for over 65 years here, no such archive exists. This project therefore, lays the foundation necessary for future Big Things research locally. It also contributes to emerging Big Things scholarship globally which highlights these structures’ importance and complexity within the context of national identity and local material culture. The second research phase, which considers specific Big Things and the stories they tell, is ongoing and only takes place in locations / rohe where I have close collaboration with mana whenua.
 
The academic research was funded by a Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fast-Start grant (2023-2026). The overall project budget included funding for institutional overheads, partial salary, student scholarships, research assistant salary, research materials, and costs associated with fieldwork. The funding also partially supported the creation of some research outputs, although the costs of this book’s production – such as printing – are entirely self-funded. I wrote, photographed, designed, and illustrated the book on my own, and I am also doing the distribution and marketing.

Research for this project will be wrapping up in 2026. I will add more information about the research itself to this website later this year. Additionally, research outputs will take the form of both traditional academic publications and conference / seminar presentations, as well as publicly accessible community engagements and displays.

Yes! Te Hīkoi Southern Journey museum in Aparima / Riverton is holding a long term photography exhibition of my work from late November to early May. The exhibition includes 100 photographs and a 10-minute documentary film loop. Check out their website to learn more about the museum.

I am very grateful to the Royal Society Te Apārangi and the Marsden Fund for enabling me to undertake the wider research from which this book stems. The Marsden Fund was the key funding mechanism for fundamental social sciences and humanities research in Aotearoa New Zealand. Last year however, the government completely cut humanities and social sciences research from being eligible for the Marsden Fund; effectively removing research funding pathways for dozens of disciplines including: social, cultural, and human geography; education; social, developmental, organisational, community and health psychology; public health; nursing; sociology; social anthropology; urban design and environmental studies; Māori studies; Indigenous studies; socio-linguistics; architecture; public policy; political science; English; film; languages; religion; philosophy; classics; art history; media studies; law; and history. You can read more about the impacts of the funding cuts and the critical importance of social sciences and humanities here, here, here, and here.
 
Many of my students – who are bright, innovative, critical thinkers with a shared commitment to justice and building a world where everyone can thrive – were also impacted by the cuts. They lost opportunities to apply for new Postgraduate and Summer Scholarships. Their ability to earn money and develop skills that would make them more competitive for other scholarships and the job market through Research Assistant work also decreased. Research funding benefits entire teams of people; not to mention local businesses where fieldwork takes place, and where research materials are purchased.
 
Having been funded through a Marsden Fast-Start grant, my project also got imbricated into the wider discourses about research funding at the end of last year: scholarship about Big Things leads to derision precisely because these structures are widely recognisable within the national imaginary and appear frivolous on the surface. Big Things also make excellent media article headlines and lead photographs as clickbait. They have the effect of completely overtaking the narrative; not unlike the effect they have within the places they are installed. This was in fact, one of my key suggestions back in 2022 when I applied for the Marsden Fast-Start grant.
 
Through my research, I also found that Big Things are important to regional economies – many of which are currently struggling, and developing initiatives to attract more visitors. Simultaneously, I’ve spoken to hundreds of people while on fieldwork, and many indicated their interest in a small Big Things photobook. I had already taken all of the photographs necessary having completed the archival research phase, and I wanted this project to contribute towards a community kaupapa outside of my formal research outputs. So, A Tiny Book of 100 Big Things in Aotearoa New Zealand, was born! The book supports local businesses and Independent bookstores that stock it; encourages travellers to stop by small towns they may not otherwise have planned on going; and it creates a little bit of revenue for students in social sciences and humanities to let them know their studies are important, and to encourage them to keep going.