MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday 6 February

Auckland photographers say billboard ban is too negative

The people who love photographing Auckland are against a planned billboard blitz aimed at improving the city's visual appeal.

Organisers of the annual Auckland Festival of Photography in June say the Auckland City Council's proposed crackdown on street advertising is unpopular and unnecessary.

Festival spokesperson Julia Durkin says billboard photography plays a major role in advertising and in popular culture. She says any change from the status quo to restriction on where and how billboards are displayed is a breach of the rights for freedom of expression protected by the New Zealand's Bill of Rights.

"The plans outlined by Auckland City Council are questionable," she says.

"They amount to state intervention on visual artists and photographers who make a living from these billboards."

"Given the current push for economic development based around the creative industries, Auckland City Council is out of step by proposing such restrictive measures."

Julia Durkin says festival organisers had been planning to promote this year's event to Aucklanders through high quality, eye catching billboard photography. The billboards, which would have featured work from a local photographer, are now in doubt.

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Website: www.photographyfestival.org.nz

*The Auckland Festival of Photography is a city-wide contemporary art and cultural event which takes place within Auckland's major galleries, project spaces, non-gallery venues and public sites during June each year. The programme includes a mix of emerging and established artists and comprises existing works and creation of new work. The annual Creative Exposure Festival is produced by the Auckland Festival of Photography Trust. The Trust is a not for profit charitable trust working to further the presence and awareness of photography in Auckland through joint programming, audience development and profile raising activities.

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