Welcome to Festival Zone for May 2024.
SONY Auckland Photo Day
The highly anticipated start of the AFP approaches and its programme is full of accessible, inclusive content that seeks to reflect, question and challenge viewers around the theme of Believe [whakapono]. After a hiatus in 2023 we are proud to announce the return of our new 2024 edition of SONY Auckland Photo Day, which is sponsored by our new partner SONY NZ.
SONY Auckland Photo Day 2024 - we're back! Since 2004, our regional competition ‘Auckland Photo Day’ has been inviting anyone, anywhere in Auckland — during a 24-hour period — to capture and share their perspectives of our region.
This ‘crowd-sourced’ visual documentary of one day in the life of Tāmaki Makaurau democratises photography and creates conversations about the places we live, work and play in as well as the many, varied people who populate them.
“Sony Auckland Photo Day is a significant community engagement project, conceived to build a visual cultural currency that documents our Auckland,” says AFP founder and CEO, Julia Durkin MNZM. 'We're delighted to be working with SONY New Zealand to give 'rizz' to the competition, plus participation for great new images of our diverse city".
Sony New Zealand's Aaron Key, Digital Imaging Product Specialist, says "Sony NZ is delighted to sponsor the 2024 Auckland Photo Day as part of our ongoing commitment to support the New Zealand photographic community".
This year’s iteration takes place on Saturday 8 June and includes two ‘SONY Photo Walks’ (full details to come) as well as an assortment of prizes (Terms and Conditions apply) including:
- 1st prize: Sony Alpha 6700 camera (RRP $2799.95) and E 16-55mm F2.8 G lens (RRP $2399.95) – Total value: RRP $5199.90
- 2nd prize: $800 Sony Store discount code*
- 3rd prize: $400 Sony Store discount code*
*NB: The discount code cannot be used to purchase PlayStation products.
1st Prize - SONY Alpha 6700 + 16-55G lens
Auckland Photo Day project support thanks to Festival Fund at Creative Communities, Auckland Council.
Believe [whakapono] Digital Screens Announced
This year we will continue to offer a selection of free, outdoor events that act as either destination spots in central, urban areas or as spots where the community can casually interact whilst out and about with the wealth and depth of visual expressions and artforms on offer.
The 2024 AFP Digital Screens are offering, among others, on Aotea Square Digital Stage work by Auckland-based, Director/Producer and cinematographer Sharron Ward and excerpts of short stories from the archive of Daylight Media, at the Central Library the conceptual documentary series, 'Rainforest Sentinels', of black and white portraits, landscapes and mirages by James Whitlow Delano as part of the 'Believe' [whakapono] theme.
Believe in Tipaka Moana - (c) Lorna Doogan
Auckland Festival of Photography Trust in association with presenting partner, Katalyst Productions, is pleased to screen Believe in Tikapa Moana by award-winning New Zealand documentary maker, Sharron Ward whose pieces relate to the belief in the natural world. Katalyst’s mission is to “make cinematically beautiful films that inform, inspire, educate and advocate for change.”
Ward had this to offer about her contribution to this year’s festival:
"The Hauraki Gulf/Tikapa Moana is facing ecological collapse with scallop beds and kōura disappearing, overfishing decimating predator fish like snapper, leading to Kina barrens. Seabirds like Kororā are starving, Bryde’s whales ingest millions of microplastics daily, and invasive seaweed is spreading. Only 0.3% of the area is protected. But there is another way".
Her documentary explores the Goat Island Marine Reserve/Te Hawere-a-Maki. with the Haurkai Gulf Marine Protection Bill currently going through the Parliamentary process.
Proudly supported by Auckland Council and the city centre targeted rate. Thanks to and supported by Auckland Live.
AFP will also be showing excerpts from short stories in the 'Believe' theme from the archive of Daylight Media. Founded in 2003, Daylight seeks out emerging and mid-career photographic artists and showcases them to a global audience via both print and digital publishing programs.
By exploring the documentary mode alongside conceptual photographic work, Daylight raises awareness about important issues of the day while revitalising the relationship between art, photography, and the world at large.
Freeview will be running some of our USA partner Daylight selects for 'Believe' content and wider Festival over the next few weeks on national TV as randomly timed, on-air shorts. Watch on Freeview CH200 or on the web at ch200.co.nz
Full 2024 Festival programme announced here. More announcements to come in mid May.
Believe - James Whitlow Delano - Rainforest Sentinels
A conceptual documentary series of black and white portraits, landscapes and mirages by United States-born, Tokyo-based James Whitlow Delano as part of the 'Believe' [whakapono] theme will show at various sites.
James has travelled extensively as a photojournalist and often covers stories of human interest of major news stories, he has been widely published internationally and he has won innumerable awards. Rainforest Sentinels is a reverential work integrating portraits of indigenous citizens in the many countries he worked on the series in, with the native rainforests and habitat where they live, with a conscious message of ancient wisdom and knowledge being connected to the natural world. It also acknowledges references to the spirits of the forest, land and nature which can be found in most ancient cultures, this work presents the viewer with an ambiguous commentary on the unseen, unspoken, the mystical world of native forests globally.
Rainforest Sentinels series will be shown at the Gantry area, Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter from 27 May to 14 June. Outdoors, 24/7, free. Thanks to Eke Panuku Development Ltd. And is screening at Central Library from 27 May to 12 June.
Online Programme - Monika K. Adler
Monika K. Adler is an acclaimed photographer and avant-garde filmmaker based in London. Her film and photography work have been both critically acclaimed and generated a significant following drawn from audiences worldwide. In this Online show she presents her work ‘The Fictional’ based on a novel of the same name by iconic author William Gibson who has been credited with inventing the word ‘cyberspace’ and whose oeuvre has been influential in the invention of augmented reality among other technologies. More here –
This from Monica (written by Aeon Rose): “In William Gibson’s novel parts of a depopulated future London transform into anachronistic recreations of the past for the benefit of tourists. Around them, despite a catastrophic collapse of society, the structures of embedded establishment persist; white stone edifices impervious to the re-ordering of reality. In our present, the ethical framework of the post-war order has become so degraded we experience multiple truths; weighted only by the effectiveness of competing influence operations. The series presents locations from the novel and its screen adaption.”
In Our Spring Garden, Samson Dell
In Our Spring Garden, a show by Samson Dell, explores the complexities of representing queer gendered experiences outside of binary frameworks.
Dell reflects on the challenges of capturing the fluidity of their collaborators' identities in static images, emphasising the constant state of transition and renegotiation. The focus shifts to community, relationships, and self-identity within a queer context, moving away from stereotypical depictions.
This exhibition celebrates the rhythm of queer communities, navigating visibility and invisibility, and preserving the ebb and flow amidst changing external perspectives on queerness. Full 2024 Festival programme announced here. More announcements to come in mid May.
aotearoa music photography award 2024
Ian Jorgensen: The Datsuns Kings Arms-Blink
How does one capture, visually, what is supposed to be captured aurally? From now until 20 May AFP is accepting entries for the Aotearoa Music Photography Award 2024 with the prize winners announced: 30 May.
The award prizes include (Terms & Conditions apply) 1st prize - $1250 cash, 2nd prize - $500 cash and a People's Choice prize - $250 Prezzy card (like a preloaded debit card). Decided by public vote. Likewise, opportunity to participate in the future exhibitions including AFP 2025 plus other digital/projections/promotion of your winning image. ENTER HERE
This year’s judge is Federico Monsalve, NZ/Auckland based editor and journalist, former editor of D Photo Magazine (New Zealand's leading photography magazine) who has worked within the photography sector to publish news stories, building an archive of written and visual editorial over many years, and career stretching across the arts sector.
Kōwhai Residency - Call 2024 closing soon
Outdoor visual arts event, Meijijingu Gaien, Aoyama, Sept 2023
The Kōwhai Residency is for New Zealand photographic/visual imaging artists who are keen to take a step internationally and have professional development time in Japan. This is an exclusive photography-based residency in one the world's best cities and is a unique cultural innovation for NZ/Japan photographic ties.
Auckland Festival of Photography and our project partner in Tokyo, T3 International Photo Festival, are at the invitation stage of our new Kōwhai Residency for 2024. The inaugural residency for applications from New Zealand based practitioners and artists started in June 2023 when the research residency was awarded to Hannah Rose Arnold, who researched alternative processes. The second residency for creating new work and exhibition in Tokyo went to Jenna Eriksen.
Research residency call is open now and closes 9th May. Assessment will take place from mid-May, and we will announce the new Kōwhai Residency recipients in June 2024 during the Festival.
Thanks to the generous founding support of Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhon 2022-2023, and our support programme in Japan: Tokyo Institute of Photography. Terms and conditions apply, click here for information on how to apply.
