• 
• 
• 

Three Wellington photographers have been selected from a national open call for Photival, the first photography festival in the capital for over ten years.

50 submissions to Photival’s Open Call were received and an international panel of judges selected the works from a shortlist of 19.

The three photographers and their work are: Christina Little’s artistic series on the imminent removal of Wellington’s trolley buses, Ben Laksana’s documentary series shot in Indonesia capturing the struggle of people to access public health care within both West Papua and Papua, and Antony Kitchener’s series highlighting the large volume of plastic waste littering New Zealand beaches and waterways.

The winning entries spoke to the theme of ‘Our World on the Brink’, Photival’s theme for 2017, and will be exhibited alongside the works of well known international and New Zealand photographers.

“Photography can play an important role in generating discussion and, we hope, action for audiences. Each of the selected works uses the artform in a slightly different way to tell a story that fits with the theme of ‘Our World on the Brink’. I am thrilled that the Open Call generated a large number of high quality and varying entries, it was tough for us to whittle them down to the shortlist put in front of the judges,” says Photival director Demi Heath.

The panel of international expert judges were Athol McCredie, Curator of Photography at Te Papa Museum, Nigel Atherton, Editor in Chief of Amateur Photographer, UK, and Myles Little, Photo Editor for TIME Magazine in New York City. The three winning entries will be exhibited at Thistle Hall as part of the inaugural Photival Photography Festival from 18 February.

Judges’ comments

Antony Kitchener – Plastic Waste in our Water

Visually very attractive images of a less than attractive subject. I'm not quite sure where artifice and reality begin and end… Very inventive.

Ben Laksana – Inequality of Public Health Care in Indonesia

A well observed set of images on a well chosen topic.

Christina Little – Wellington Trolley Buses

A very consistent, cohesive story that takes an artistic look at a topic that is hard to make look interesting!

Photival is a photography festival for positive change and is being produced by GoldFish Creative, the team who’ve been instrumental in delivering the LUX Light Festival and The Performance Arcade. The festival aims to make a positive social impact by connecting audiences with charity organisations making a difference in the community.

Photival will celebrate local and international photographers with over 20 different photographers to exhibit their work: from well-known international artists to tertiary students to open call submission winners judged by a panel of international photography experts.

International confirmations include Sim Chi Yin, Tamara Abdul Hadi, Myriam Abdelaziz and a show of curated work by Myles Little (Photo Editor for TIME Magazine, New York City). Photival will celebrate New Zealand nationals Conor Clarke, Chris Corson-Scott, Birgit Krippner and Ans Westra.

Photival is being produced with funding from Wellington City Council, The Asia New Zealand Foundation and Wellington City Creative Communities, as part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival.

All of Photival’s exhibitions will be free to attend in Wellington’s central city creative spaces for two weeks as part of NZ Fringe Festival 2017, Saturday 18 February to Saturday 4 March 2017. Works will be displayed at more than eight central city locations, all within walking distance and free to access. Visit www.photival.com for further information and updates.

/ENDS (580 words)