Latest news with #AucklandFestivalofPhotography
NZ Herald
09-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Auckland Festival of Photography: Deborah Kelland's ‘sacred journey' following the monarch butterfly migration to Mexico
Every morning for nine days, Kelland rose early to meet them. Setting out from Macheros, a tiny village in the foothills, she made the two-hour trek up the mountain on foot, carrying her camera gear. Flights of migrating butterflies were still arriving from Canada, forming pulsating clouds so dense they almost obscured the sky. 'When I got up there, I was on my own, so it was an incredibly spiritual experience,' she says. 'You're just overwhelmed, standing in this paddock at the top of the mountain with the enormity of the butterflies coming towards you. It's like being in a snowstorm.' The Arrival. Migrating monarch butterflies were still flocking in from Canada when photographer Deborah Kelland climbed to their feeding ground at the Cerro Peon Sanctuary in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountain range. Photo / Deborah Kelland The monarch butterfly has a typical lifespan of only four to six weeks. However, once a year a 'super generation' is produced that lives for up to nine months and can survive this epic migration. In 2022, the species was officially listed as endangered, reflecting its devastating decline. In Mexico, the population has fallen by 70% over the past 30 years, largely due to illegal logging that threatens their roosting spots and an increase in severe weather events caused by climate change. Kelland, who describes her art photography as inspired by the 'life force and vibrant energy of nature', was immediately fascinated when she read about the migration of the monarchs and their vulnerable existence. Specialising in backlit photography, she wanted to photograph the butterflies against a black background – an effect she achieved by lying on the ground and shooting into the mountain. The results are striking, setting the glowing orange butterflies against a backdrop of velvety midnight black as sunlight streaks the grass. 'It was incredibly challenging, defying all the principles of photography, really,' she says. 'But I didn't want blue sky, which is what everyone associates with butterflies.' The sanctuary is protected by guardians who ride up the mountain on horseback. Silhouetted in several of Kelland's images, they appear as an almost ghostly presence: the rump of a horse emerging from the shadows; a dog's bushy tail that looks for all the world as if it belongs to a wolf. The Wolf. A dog belonging to the guardians of the butterfly sanctuary looks remarkably wolf-like as it's captured passing through the frame. Photo / Deborah Kelland Attuned to some cosmic clock, the first wave of migrating butterflies arrives each year on the Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos), which is celebrated in Mexico on November 1 and 2. 'They say the butterflies are the souls of their loved ones returning,' Kelland says. 'And I can believe it.' More than five years after the images were taken, her collection is about to be shown publicly for the first time at the Auckland Festival of Photography. A region-wide series of free exhibitions and events, the global programme includes work by NZ Herald photographers that will be displayed outdoors, along the fence at Queens Wharf. Waka ceremony at Waitangi, by Dean Purcell, from an exhibition by NZ Herald photographers at the Auckland Festival of Photography, which features work from around the world. Provision 8, by Clara Watt, from her exhibition The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values. A work from Sarah Cusack's series, Conflict Portraits. A real-estate hotshot in the 90s, Kelland was the first agent at Bayleys Real Estate to receive the $100 Million Award for settled sales and later founded her own boutique agency. In 2009, she walked away from the industry on the day her partner, Sue Nelson, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The couple married in 2013 after 27 years together in one of the first same-sex weddings celebrated in New Zealand after a law change the previous year. By then, they were living on Waiheke, where Kelland began exploring art photography alongside her charity and philanthropy work. In 2011, a T-shirt she designed in the days after the Christchurch earthquake raised thousands of dollars, with orders peaking at 700 a day. Her first photography exhibition, the Light of the Soul series, was dedicated to her late mother. Shot at the Parnell Rose Garden, it featured large-scale backlit images mounted on to light boxes to mimic the rays of the sun. Deborah Kelland at her home on Waiheke Island, with her dog, Toby, and sitting at her late wife Sue Nelson's piano. Nelson kept her cancer at bay for more than a decade before her health began to deteriorate. She died in 2020 on their seventh wedding anniversary, only five months after Kelland returned from Mexico. Devastated, Kelland set her butterfly photographs aside until late last year, when art collector Dame Jenny Gibbs convinced her to mount them in the foyer of the Wynyard Quarter apartment building where the two women are neighbours. 'For a long time, it was far too raw,' says Kelland. 'Jenny encouraged me to release the butterflies, literally. It was a very emotional moment.' Healthy Poison, by Karl Mancini, from a portrait series of factory workers in Samut Sonkhram, Thailand. Melt 4, by Wairarapa-based photographer Wendy Brandon. Her exhibition MELT: A Strangely Beautiful Interior, explores Antarctica "from a starting point of us needing to sustain a symbiotic relationship with the wild places on our planet". This theme of this year's Auckland Festival of Photography, Sustain/Tautīnei, resonated deeply with Kelland, who was moved to tears by both the resilience of the monarch butterfly and a fragility that mirrors our own. 'I love to immerse people in the joy of nature and all its magnificent creatures, but we also need to be so much more conscious of the devastating damage to our environment,' she says. 'For a while there, I couldn't even look at the devastation, because I like to have hope. To me, producing these images gives people hope, because the beauty is still there.' The Sacred Journey: A Flight for Life is on at Little Rosie in Parnell from May 15 to June 15 as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. For the full programme, go to Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior lifestyle writer with a special interest in social issues and the arts.
Scoop
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Global Winners Just Announced For Prestigious World Press Photo Contest, Exhibition Returning To Auckland This July
Press Release – Elephant Publicity Rotary Club of Auckland presents World Press Photo Exhibition Saturday 26 July – Sunday 24 August, Auckland The internationally acclaimed World Press Photo Exhibition returns to Auckland later this year, showcasing the best and most important photojournalism and documentary photography from around the globe. The exhibition, which presents the winning photographs of the prestigious annual World Press Photo Contest, will head to Tāmaki Makaurau thanks to the Rotary Club of Auckland, from 26 July – 24 August at Level 1, Smith and Caughey's Building. Presented in more than 60 cities each year, the World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 invites viewers to step outside the news cycle and think critically about important topics in our world. Key themes range from politics, gender, migration, to conflict and the climate crisis. This year New Zealand is well represented at the World Press Photo Contest. For the first time ever a New Zealander was appointed as a judge. Julia Durkin MZNM – Founder and CEO of Auckland Festival of Photography – served on the judging panel for the Asia Pacific & Oceania regional winners. Julia is available for interviews (full bio here). Nelson-based photographer Tatsiana Chypsana has also already been announced as the Asia-Pacific & Oceania – Long Term Projects winner, with her powerful series Te Urewera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People. The 2025 global Photo of the Year winner and two runners up, which have just been announced, are: Photo of the Year Title: Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine © Samar Abu Elouf, for The New York Times Story: As his family fled an Israeli assault, Mahmoud turned back to urge others onward. An explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. The family were evacuated to Qatar where, after medical treatment, Mahmoud is learning to use his feet to play games on his phone, write, and open doors. Aside from that, he needs special assistance for most daily activities, such as eating and dressing. Mahmoud's dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child. The photographer, who is from Gaza and was herself evacuated in December 2023, lives in the same Doha apartment complex as Mahmoud in Qatar. She has bonded with families there, and documented some of the few badly wounded Gazans who made it out for treatment. Runner Up Title: Night Crossing © John Moore, Getty Images Story: Unauthorised immigration from China to the US has increased dramatically in recent years due to a host of factors, including China's struggling economy and financial losses after strict zero-COVID policies. Moreover, people are being influenced by video tutorials on how to get across the border, shown on Chinese social media platforms. This image, both otherworldly and intimate, depicts the complex realities of migration at the border, which is often flattened and politicized in public discourse in the United States. Runner Up Title: Droughts in the Amazon © Musuk Nolte, Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation Story: The Amazon River is experiencing record low-water levels due to severe drought intensified by climate change. This ecological crisis threatens biodiversity, disrupts ecosystems, and impacts local communities reliant on rivers for survival. As droughts intensify, many settlers face the difficult choice of abandoning their land and livelihoods for urban areas, changing the social fabric of this region permanently. This project makes the effects of climate change, which can so often be abstract or difficult to represent, appear as a tangible and concrete reality shaping the futures of vulnerable communities closely connected with the natural world. The global winners were selected from 42 regional winners, which were chosen out of 59,320 entries from 3,778 photographers across 141 countries. They were judged first by six regional juries, and the winners were then chosen by an independent global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair. Since 1955, the annual World Press Photo Contest has been recognising and celebrating the best photojournalism and documentary photography. 2025 marks the 70th anniversary of World Press Photo. In addition to the winning photographs, this year's exhibition will include a special display of 70 years of World Press Photo. 70 years on the contest is increasingly globally representative with the inclusion of the Regional Contest (with six regions Africa; Asia-Pacific and Oceania; Europe; North and Central America; South America; West, Central, and South Asia), ensuring that exceptional news and documentary photography from every corner of the world would be recognised and awarded. Entries are judged and awarded in the region in which the photographs and stories are shot, rather than the nationality of the photographer. This year, 30 out of 42 regional winners were also local to the country where they photographed their project. World Press Photo Exhibition Auckland Dates: Saturday 26 July – Sunday 24 August Times: Sunday – Tuesday: 10.30am – 6pm. Wednesday – Saturday: 10.30am – 6.30PM Location: Level 1, Smith and Caughey's Building, Elliot St Entrance Tickets on sale soon The exhibition is also going to Wellington from Friday 5 September – Sunday 5 October 2025 and will be held at the Ground Floor: TAKINA Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre – next to Te Papa – National Museum of New Zealand.
Scoop
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Global Winners Just Announced For Prestigious World Press Photo Contest, Exhibition Returning To Auckland This July
Rotary Club of Auckland presents World Press Photo Exhibition Saturday 26 July - Sunday 24 August, Auckland The internationally acclaimed World Press Photo Exhibition returns to Auckland later this year, showcasing the best and most important photojournalism and documentary photography from around the globe. The exhibition, which presents the winning photographs of the prestigious annual World Press Photo Contest, will head to Tāmaki Makaurau thanks to the Rotary Club of Auckland, from 26 July – 24 August at Level 1, Smith and Caughey's Building. Presented in more than 60 cities each year, the World Press Photo Exhibition 2025 invites viewers to step outside the news cycle and think critically about important topics in our world. Key themes range from politics, gender, migration, to conflict and the climate crisis. This year New Zealand is well represented at the World Press Photo Contest. For the first time ever a New Zealander was appointed as a judge. Julia Durkin MZNM – Founder and CEO of Auckland Festival of Photography – served on the judging panel for the Asia Pacific & Oceania regional winners. Julia is available for interviews (full bio here). Nelson-based photographer Tatsiana Chypsana has also already been announced as the Asia-Pacific & Oceania – Long Term Projects winner, with her powerful series Te Urewera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People. The 2025 global Photo of the Year winner and two runners up, which have just been announced, are: Photo of the Year Title: Mahmoud Ajjour, Aged Nine © Samar Abu Elouf, for The New York Times Story: As his family fled an Israeli assault, Mahmoud turned back to urge others onward. An explosion severed one of his arms and mutilated the other. The family were evacuated to Qatar where, after medical treatment, Mahmoud is learning to use his feet to play games on his phone, write, and open doors. Aside from that, he needs special assistance for most daily activities, such as eating and dressing. Mahmoud's dream is simple: he wants to get prosthetics and live his life as any other child. The photographer, who is from Gaza and was herself evacuated in December 2023, lives in the same Doha apartment complex as Mahmoud in Qatar. She has bonded with families there, and documented some of the few badly wounded Gazans who made it out for treatment. Runner Up © John Moore, Getty Images Story: Unauthorised immigration from China to the US has increased dramatically in recent years due to a host of factors, including China's struggling economy and financial losses after strict zero-COVID policies. Moreover, people are being influenced by video tutorials on how to get across the border, shown on Chinese social media platforms. This image, both otherworldly and intimate, depicts the complex realities of migration at the border, which is often flattened and politicized in public discourse in the United States. Runner Up Title: Droughts in the Amazon © Musuk Nolte, Panos Pictures, Bertha Foundation Story: The Amazon River is experiencing record low-water levels due to severe drought intensified by climate change. This ecological crisis threatens biodiversity, disrupts ecosystems, and impacts local communities reliant on rivers for survival. As droughts intensify, many settlers face the difficult choice of abandoning their land and livelihoods for urban areas, changing the social fabric of this region permanently. This project makes the effects of climate change, which can so often be abstract or difficult to represent, appear as a tangible and concrete reality shaping the futures of vulnerable communities closely connected with the natural world. The global winners were selected from 42 regional winners, which were chosen out of 59,320 entries from 3,778 photographers across 141 countries. They were judged first by six regional juries, and the winners were then chosen by an independent global jury consisting of the regional jury chairs plus the global jury chair. Since 1955, the annual World Press Photo Contest has been recognising and celebrating the best photojournalism and documentary photography. 2025 marks the 70th anniversary of World Press Photo. In addition to the winning photographs, this year's exhibition will include a special display of 70 years of World Press Photo. 70 years on the contest is increasingly globally representative with the inclusion of the Regional Contest (with six regions Africa; Asia-Pacific and Oceania; Europe; North and Central America; South America; West, Central, and South Asia), ensuring that exceptional news and documentary photography from every corner of the world would be recognised and awarded. Entries are judged and awarded in the region in which the photographs and stories are shot, rather than the nationality of the photographer. This year, 30 out of 42 regional winners were also local to the country where they photographed their project. World Press Photo Exhibition Auckland Dates: Saturday 26 July - Sunday 24 August Times: Sunday - Tuesday: 10.30am – 6pm. Wednesday – Saturday: 10.30am – 6.30PM Location: Level 1, Smith and Caughey's Building, Elliot St Entrance Tickets on sale soon The exhibition is also going to Wellington from Friday 5 September - Sunday 5 October 2025 and will be held at the Ground Floor: TAKINA Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre – next to Te Papa – National Museum of New Zealand.
