Conflict images say a thousand words

Media release

10 May 2011

Conflict images say a thousand words

Conflict through the lenses of cameras will be the topic of this year’s Auckland Festival of Photography’s Talking Culture Symposium.

The symposium, which will take place on 4 June at Aotea Centre, will be a free, one-off event that will raise critical debate around photography’s role in responding to conflict - from civil unrest to war.

With Flemish New Zealand photographer and social historian, Veronique Cornille presenting her ‘Kiwis in Flanders’ project alongside presentations from Vietnam war and human rights photographer and UN ambassador, Tim page, and 1970’s Vietnam protest photojournalist, John Miller, this symposium will give attendees an interesting photographic insight into various conflicts.

Festival Director, Julia Durkin says, "Given the amount of conflict in the world currently, it's contemporary and relevant that the Festival is delivering a symposium on the work of some great photographers ranging from locals, John Miller and Veronique Cornille, to veteran Vietnam shooter and UN ambassador, Tim Page."

As part of the symposium, Veronique Cornille will be presenting her ‘Kiwis in Flanders’ project, which involved photographing the graves and memorials of the 4,633 kiwi soldiers who perished in Flanders in WWI and the 78 who perished in WWII.

John Miller and Tim Page will be discussing the period of the late 1960s to early 1970s, which saw civil dissent against the New Zealand Army and Airforce’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

Tim page says, “Susan Moller said ‘war is very photogenic’ – it’s also an adrenaline rush, exciting, devastating, horrific, heroic and hazardous to your health. The images that come from it define our history; possibly none more so than those of the Vietnam conflict, which has shaped the honesty of coverage ever since.”

The symposium is free to attend and will run from 10.30am to 4pm at the Aotea Centre in Queen Street. Supporting the symposium will be projections of work from Magnum photographers covering Gaza and Burma, as well as international photojournalists work covering Bangkok riots in May 2010, the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and Iraq is Flying in the Aotea Gallery. The projections run til 9 June and are free.

For more information, please visit www.photographyfestival.org.nz.

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