Bringing together artists from across New Zealand, An urban quest for chlorophyl was motivated by creative practices engaging with the cultural mediation of nature. Introduced by Mark Amery and featuring the work and musings of Tanya Eccleston, Sue Gallagher, Jenny Gillam, Dieneke Jansen, Andrew Douglas, Kate Linzey, Monique Redmond, Lara Strongman and Amanda Yates, An urban quest for chlorophyll focuses on artistic practices within Aotearoa that explore the sociopolitical constructs of ecology, nature and culture in cities. 

From the renegotiation of the torn and broken urban spaces of Christchurch post earthquake as civic canvases of concrete, plastic and metal, yarn-bombed trees, the disquieting juxtaposition of photographed, dripping plants trapped in Wellington light-boxes in Courtney Place, pop-up gardens in pop-up Auckland shops and guerrilla gardens that appeared in Christchurch’s public spaces, An urban quest for chlorophyll showcases a 2013 palette of New Zealand art that, like nature itself, is vibrant, and insidious while tenuous. 

The freedom gardens, hydrangeas almost sculptural, the recordings of plants, exotic and native, exploding across spaces left exposed by the vicissitudes of urbanity both civic and from acts of God are also explored in artists’ reflections, essays and a transcribed discussion, and includes an essay by arts editor, curator, critic, broadcaster and writer Mark Amery. 
The book contains full-colour images and is on currently available in New Zealand plus has been included in Printed Matter’s distribution program in the United States.