Welcome to Festival Zone for July 2024.
Kōwhai trees motivate creative extension of unique Japan/New Zealand residency
Kōwhai is a tree that grows in both New Zealand and in Japan, (Sophora japonica – ‘Japanese Kōwhai' same family/group), a symbolic cultural connection crossing over the oceans between two hemispheres to grow creativity.
Following on from the successful inaugural 2023 Kōwhai Residencies in Yōga, Tokyo we are delighted to announce this year's research placement has been Awarded to Theo Macdonald, based in Auckland. Theo says “The Kōwhai research residency is an incredible opportunity for me to expand and develop my photographic practice through dedicated time and international experience.”
Daikanyama, Tokyo 2023
The Festival Trust are delighted Theo has accepted to be the 3rd NZ photographer to undertake the Kōwhai Residency in Tokyo, Japan starting next month. Whilst in residence he will be exploring and researching, he explains his practice base "My lens-based practice involves documenting natural and architectural landscapes, using still and moving photography, to explore how these environments might help us understand the people who inhabit (or have inhabited) them. A methodological touchstone in my artistic practice is a 1960s Japanese filmmaking collective that developed fûkeiron, or "Japanese Landscape Theory". This collective argued that 1960s Japan’s socio-political identities were best represented by imaging urban Japan’s banal cityscapes, rather than its people."
Theo is stated in his pitch to gain selection "The objective of this research trip is to enrich my understanding of fûkeiron in the context of the urban landscape that initiated this movement."
He has exhibited widely in New Zealand and overseas in solo and group exhibitions. In 2023, Macdonald completed a Master of Visual Arts at Auckland’s AUT University.
Theo Macdonald; Railway Apartments Auckland - After ōshima
The annual Kōwhai Residency is for support of a artist to undertake new research in Japan and for the development of their photography practice. We aim for the residency to offer transformational outcomes for emerging / mid-career lens-based artists from Aotearoa who are well placed to capitalise on this unique and significant opportunity to gain international success in multiple specific outcomes and new pathways. Call For Applications - 2024 Kōwhai Creator Residency in Yōga, Tokyo are opening this week, 6th July to deadline, 5pm on 18th July 2024.
Kōwhai Residency is a unique dedicated photographic experience for a NZ photographer. It’s the first dedicated NZ photography residency programme in Japan to be established from New Zealand. The partnership is between Auckland Festival of Photography and T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, Japan. With generous support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation - Te Whītau Tūhon.
People's Choice Prize 2024 winner
Sony Auckland Photo Day - voting for the People’s Choice prize took place for one week from 20 June to 26 June with over 2730 votes being made, we're pleased to share the winner of the 2024 prize is Max Mckee with 'Desolate Interiors', taken at an abandoned classroom at a regional High School.
People's Choice Prize wins these cool items:
Sony 64GB SF-M Tough UHS-II SD card worth $149.95
Profoto Silver/White Collapsible Reflector worth $304.00
The diverse sampling of daily subject matter that makes up 2024’s 'best of’ Auckland Photo Day provides a great treat of visual stories about who we are as Aucklanders in June 2024.
Believe - NASA James Webb exhibition - Queens Wharf
NASA James Webb Telescope- Jupiter Images Showcase Auroras Hazes
(NIRCam Image) by NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ricardo Hueso (UPV), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Thierry Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScl)
Deep Space, Queens Wharf Fence - extended through July.
Thanks to NASA, and Queens Wharf Fence team, and Eke Panuku Development.