Nicole Arnett Phillips’ Auckland Festival of Photography runs

Tmaki Makaurau is hosting the 2020 Auckland Festival of Photography, which is now in its 17th year. During the month of June, Auckland’s main galleries, project spaces, non-gallery venues, and public places host this annual city-wide contemporary art and cultural festival. The program me features a combination of emerging and established artists, as well as existing works and new work production. The Auckland Festival of Photography Trust organizes the annual festival. The Auckland Festival of Photography is pleased to present an outdoor waterfront exhibition of work by Werner Bishop of Switzerland. Werner began his career in his Zurich, Switzerland, studio, where he honed his creative photography skills in “painting with light and shadow.” In 1945, he produces what is perhaps the most significant photographic documentation of Europe following WWII. He joins Magnum Photos in 1949 and spends two years travelling through Asia, photographing in India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Indochina. He continues his humanistic photography, mixing form and substance. His untimely death in a car accident in Peru at the age of 38 prompted the development of an archive to preserve his work for future generations.

USA is a collection of images that vividly portrays early 1950s America, but Bishop died sadly young at the age of 38, so the photographs were never published during his lifetime. It’s the first time they’ve been seen by the general public in New Zealand. In 1949, Bishop became the first non-founding member of the Magnum group, which included Robert Cape, David Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and George Rodger. He was already well-known for his groundbreaking use of color photography, and he was one of the first documentary photographers to take the medium seriously. Most of Bishop’s contemporaries were still working in monochrome when he joined Magnum, a practice that lasted well into the 1960s. The photos capture a brief moment in time: Bishop arrived in the postwar United States from Switzerland in 1953 and remained for just one year, documenting a thriving and hopeful America from the eyes of an outsider.

The series’ 25 photos contain few suggestions of interaction; instead, they are snatched moments captured through shop windows and vehicles that blur by, evoking anonymity and a contemplative look at daily life in America during a time of enormous change. (With thanks to the British Journal of Photography for some of the text.) Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Panko Growth, Lion Foundation, and Werner Bishop Estate were all instrumental in making this possible. Judy Stokes and Gail Stent, two Auckland Fine Art artists, investigate the idea of what lies underneath the fibers of life. Multiple in-camera exposure work, collaborative works by this artistic team, as well as recent works by both artists will be among the works on view. Ian Wittenberg, three-time Auckland Photographer of the Year, captures dramatic and extraordinary landscapes from around the world. Wittenberg uses sepia tone, which mimics analogue lithographic techniques, in this collection of large-format prints to explore the timeless existence of specific locations. Wittenberg’s distinct and convincing monochromatic style produces powerful images that evoke the imagination and prompt thoughtful reflection. Wittenberg uses a simple narrative style to present his unique view of the world through this portfolio of striking images. These photography studio Auckland of stunning scenery are meant to pique your interest in travelling to new places and experiencing their distinct cultures. Qiane Matata-Sipu, Saynab Muse, and Raymond Sagapolutele are the artists who will be part of the 2020 Annual Commission. Every year, a new body of work by an Auckland-based artist is commissioned for exhibition during the Festival. In 2020, three Auckland-based artists are included in the anniversary edition of the Annual Commission. Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Wai-o-hua, Waikato-Tainui) is a writer, photographer, and social activist based in South Auckland. For the past twelve years, she has been photographing her peaking, Ihumtao.

She was a member of the 2014 Festival’s ‘Cultural Memory’ symposium, was shortlisted for the Annual Commission in 2015, and was also exhibited by the Festival at the Pingyao Photo Festival in China. Her six-image social documentary series about the battle to keep land adjacent to the tuatara Stone fields Historic Reserve in Manger from being established as a Special Housing Area earned her the 2018 NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year Photo Story prize. As part of the 10th anniversary of the Annual Commission, With her Muslim roots, love of photography, and talent for it as a means of expression in a hearing world, Saynab Muse brings a unique perspective to the cultural landscape of photography. Saynab earned a Bachelor of Creative Enterprise degree from Unitec. “My project is about becoming a feminist and practising Islam, and it details my personality, which has developed into a project to share with others. I’d like to share my viewpoint on what it’s all about so that others can see how my faith influences ideas like diversity and feminism. I grew up wearing a Hijab (head scarf), which demonstrates my identity as a Deaf Muslim woman.” Raymond Sagapolutele is a Samoan artist who was born in Aotearoa and has family links to the villages of Fatuvalu in Savai’i and Saluafata in Upolu. Sagapolutele first picked up a camera in 2003 and embarked on a self-taught photography journey that included work as a staff photographer for editorial publications Back to Basics and Rip It Up, as well as submissions to the NZ Herald and Metro Magazine. Sagapolutele won the Deans Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research from AUT after completing his Master of Visual Arts degree with first-class honours. Sagapolutele was also a finalist in the 2019 Glaister Ennor Graduate Art Awards and was included in the 2019 Wallace Arts Award.