Auckland Festival of Photography, 31 May – 22 June

The Auckland Festival of Photography kicked off last week in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. This city-wide contemporary art and cultural event takes place within Auckland’s major galleries, project spaces, non-gallery venues and public sites. The programme includes a mix of emerging and established artists and comprises existing works and the creation of new work. The annual Festival is produced by the Auckland Festival of Photography Trust.
Full details about what’s on offer can be found at: www.photographyfestival.org.nz
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Meet You at Mercs. Photo / Raymond Sagapolutele

Design Assembly’s five picks for this year’s festival are:
Meet You at Mercs
This is the third year in a row that this diverse group of photographers have exhibited and building on the strengths of the previous years they have focused their work to fine tune the ideas explored over the last two shows. Exhibiting once again at Allpress Studio the show will be another chance to take in the themes explored by each of the nine photographers over the last twelve months, work that has been shot in Aotearoa and overseas. Covering landscapes, portraiture, documentary and themes of identity and belonging the exhibition offers the viewer a chance to see life through the lens of 9 photographers representing all the corners of Auckland.
The Resettlement Portraits
Every year Aotearoa, New Zealand receives intakes of humanitarian migrants under the United Nations resettlement quota, asylum seekers and family reunification programmes. A lot of misinformation and fear surrounds this process, and little is known about the people who are coming to restart their lives in this country. This project is about exposing New Zealanders to the wealth and diversity of these cultures. The project celebrates their strength, resilience, taonga tuku iho and mana, as they become part of a new and more diverse New Zealand identity.
Kuala Lumpur Photo Awards
Since 2009, KLPA has been recognising and rewarding top international photographers through it’s open calls, focussing on the best in contemporary portrait photography. KLPA in its 10th year, has been selected as one of the top recommended contests by World Photography Organisation.
Tuafale Tanoa’i – Story telling as Koha
This project draws from decades of material working as an interdisciplinary Artist, community documenter and independent Archivist. My practice works to visibilise communities and people that are often mis-represented in mainstream society. This is done through generating a living Archive of recorded interviews, photographs and sound recordings, which are then presented within a performative installation framework. The scope of the Archive ranges from the political to personal pertaining to Pacific, Maori, and LGBTQI communities.
Dignity for Palestine
In the distance, like a giant serpent, the separation wall surrounds the valley and hills of the pale, dry land. Before you get close, jumbles of boulders and rocks alert you to stop at a checkpoint manned by young Israeli soldiers. I walked through the checkpoints and the separation wall which was first built on the 1967 border and constantly extended to divide not only faith but dignity and humanity. The physical, social, political, psychological and military barriers to trade and commerce severely limit economic growth and quality of daily life under the apartheid-like system of Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian Territories.