Welcome to Festival Zone for February 2026.

Paul Gilbert - Road People of Aotearoa

Movement [Kori] theme

The 2026 Festival theme is 'Movement' [Kori]. We're delighted to share our advance announcement of one of our key artists who will feature in the 'Movement' suite of works. AFP Trust are producing a presentation of Paul Gilbert's Road People of Aotearoa: House-truck journeys 1978-1984 series, which will be shown in Auckland, at the Festival.

Image by Paul Gilbert, Road People of Aotearoa - house truck journeys 1978 - 1984

In 1978, Gilbert resigned from his professional role at the Auckland City Art Gallery to focus on Road People of Aotearoa, a project providing a rare glimpse into the New Zealand house-truck movement. This landmark body of work captures an intimate view of an alternative lifestyle during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Rather than acting as a detached observer, Gilbert was an active participant in this community, having been one of the founders and travelling in his own mobile home. Iris, was his beloved green 1934 WTL Bedford bus, fitted with a Chevy motor and sporting a clear skylight so he could watch the stars in bed.

For Gilbert and his subjects, movement was a vital expression of belonging to a mobile community that shared a deep-seated rejection of conventional norms. This counterculture was driven by the era's ideals of self-sufficiency, recycling, and a "back-to-the-land" philosophy that sought to escape the status quo and suburban life. Gilbert’s lens documented these journeys not as a series of stops, but as a continuous way of life - capturing the intricate "living architecture" of hand-converted vehicles and the families who travelled the back roads of Aotearoa, converging at festivals like Nambassa and Sweetwaters.

The photographs to be on display at the Auckland Festival of Photography 2026 have been selected from a historic photo-essay that was posthumously edited and published in 2021 by Rim Books, called Road People of Aotearoa: House-truck journeys 1978-1984.

 Today, his legacy continues through the efforts of his sister, Linda Gilbert who is a contemporary abstract painter. She actively curates and archives his work to ensure its place in New Zealand's artistic history. Thanks to her for support of this exhibition. (abridged, text supplied)

Call for submissions open

Happy Year of the Horse! The 23rd annual Auckland Festival of Photography is officially open for submissions, and we are excitedly encouraging submissions from artists, educators, and curators from around the region, nation and the world through February/March. Deadline 25th March 2026.

The theme for this year’s Festival has been announced as ‘Movement’ [kori], and we will be welcoming creative and insightful interpretations on the subject (for more information about our 2026 theme see here)

Your participation can be in-venue, online, or outdoors and can include a wide variety of activities that celebrate photography and its makers. Exhibitions, talks, events, book launches, pub quizzes, performance projections and everything in between can be suggested to our Festival Trust.

The Festival serves as a gathering of cultural exchange for visual storytellers, lens-based artists, educators, students, and anyone passionate about the art form, to connect with a large and diverse audience and share lived experiences, stories, and dynamic creativity, especially during challenging times.

Tony Reddrop outdoor posters, Skin Stories, Ponsonby, Festival 2024.

Our joint programme model has been in place since 2004 allowing for full creative freedoms with work presented by artists, curators, groups and dealer galleries based in New Zealand. The Festival offers an inclusive platform for creative freedom that allows independence to choose how and where they showcase their work.

 Vision - Photography Connecting Communities and People

Kōwhai Residency 2026 Update

The Festival trust and team have reviewed the first 3 years of the residency and are delighted to offer a new and improved, important residency placement for a New Zealand photographer in 2026. Full details announced and applications will be invited in April.

• International residency programme in Tokyo August/Sept 2026
• Kōwhai residency offers an emerging to mid-career photographic artist, with a proven track record a unique opportunity
• Covers key costs such as accommodation, flights (NZ return), weekly stipend
• Self-guided with research and production support, offering new context for your work
• Documentary, exhibition quality fine arts proposals invited
• End of residency presentation in Tokyo, and exhibition offered in the Festival (following year subject to funds)

Coming soon - Opens May 1st