Be part of the city’s new photo festival

The inaugural Photival Photography Festival will be the first of its kind in Wellington for more than 10 years.

Photival will take place over two weeks in February and March during Fringe 2017.

It will be held at various Wellington locations, including venues in the Cuba and Courtenay quarters as well as at Te Wharewaka on the waterfront.

Festival director Demi Heath, who hails from Britain, says the idea came about after she arrived in the capital and was shocked to learn that it didn’t have a photography festival.

She has a photography background and says checking out the photography scene is always one of the first things she does in a new city.

‘‘I thought it was very, very strange that a capital city doesn’t have one,’’ she says of the photography festival. ‘‘Pretty much every European capital has one.’’

Wellington has a very creative, exciting and welcoming atmosphere that meant the idea snowballed.

Heath says Photival is a photography festival for positive change. It has an open call where anyone can submit their work for inclusion before January 6, with the theme of ‘‘Our World On The Brink’’.

‘‘We want to create more of a local engagement. It’s important that we’re focusing on local issues and not just the international ones.’’

Each submission will be judged by a panel, and those selected will have their works exhibited next to nationally and internationally acclaimed artists such as Birgit Krippner and Sim Chi Yin.

The festival aims to make a positive social impact by connecting audiences with charity organisations.

‘‘I’m quite surprised that festivals in general aren’t doing this more. We just want to give people very simple, easy steps for immediate engagement.’’

She hopes Photival will make people think. ‘‘I want to present people with really visible, powerful examples of what is going on in the world and then give them the tools to engage more and think more.

‘‘It’s so easy to switch off from the horrible news we get every day because we feel powerless ... We’re not powerless, there’s so much we can do to make a difference.’’

Birgit Krippner’s images of Tame Iti will be exhibited at Te Wharewaka o Poneke during next year’s Photival Photography Festival in Wellington. Inset: Festival director Demi Heath says the inaugural event aims to make a positive change.