Longlisted for Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2024 - The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

Landfall, reviewed by Mary Macpherson. "A lavishly-illustrated blockbuster of a book that reveals a whole world of women active at every level of photography ... At a deeper level, these images ... give us part of the history of our country across the centuries. It's difficult not to be moved by this, and the book deserves to fly high at the next Ockham New Zealand Book Awards."
Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books, reviewed by Hamish Coney. "Mitchell's decade of research has unearthed a wealth of wonderful images created by women in Aotearoa, and provided a powerful narrative that reveals their creators' lives and motivations. Through Shaded Glass is both a corrective and a celebration, and will no doubt create a legacy in its own right, as a point of departure for future scholarship."
NZ Booklovers, reviewed by Lyn Potter. "Lissa Mitchell has skilfully and successfully filled a gap in the history of women's participation in photography in the Western world. She has amply succeeded in her aim of showing that in New Zealand, women from 1860-1960 did have access to photographic equipment and used it in all sorts of ways. ... She is a very erudite photography historian but has written Through Shaded Glass in a very engaging and accessible way for the general reader. I found it unputdownable."
The Post, reviewed by Mark Amery. "Through Shaded Glass impresses in providing a different window on our past than the other photographic history books on my shelves."
Kete Books, reviewed by Jessica Agoston Cleary. "As one of Aotearoa's most knowledgeable and experienced photographic historians, there is no one better than Lissa Mitchell to research, distill and re-contextualise the photographic history of our country ... It is a whirlwind tour and it is well worth it."
New Zealand Geographic, reviewed by Catherine Woulfe. "Mitchell's text validates the various ways women participated in photography ... her own mastery is clear on each page."
Gisborne Herald, review by Wynsley Wrigley of the chapter on Gisborne photographers. "Gloriously illustrated publication ... fascinating book."

Lissa Mitchell is curator of historical photography at Te Papa and has held previous roles in photographic collection management and preventive photographic conservation roles at the New Zealand Film Archive (now part of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision) and the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa. She has a degree in art history from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to a career in photographic history, Mitchell was an experimental filmmaker.