2017 Auckland Festival of Photography takes place 1-24 June 2017.  This year's festival explores the theme of Identity. The international calibre of AFP 2017 is evident in the Identity themed exhibitions at the Silo 6 - curated by Bangladeshi artist, curator activist and photographer Shahidul Alam. Artists featured include Kim Hak (Cambodia) Dina Goldstein (Canada), Shahria Sharmin (Bangladesh), and Pushpamala N (India) and at 24 core exhibitions in Auckland galleries and public spaces. AFP 2017 features nearly 50 Satellite exhibitions throughout the region and boasts 15 Talking Culture’ events featuring leading international practitioners from Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Australia, as well as new work by Janet Lilo for the Annual Commission by Baker+Douglas. Among the events on the programme are:

• Italian Photography Project | Auckland Festival of Photography and PhotoLux present a curated selection of Italian photography.  Photolux Festival is the International Biennial of Photography that takes place in Lucca since 2011.
• Identity - Kim Hak  | Hak is a full-time photographer based in Cambodia whose work brings together storytelling and artistic aesthetic. Hak has focused on several themes including stories of Khmer Rouge survivors, the funeral of King Sihanouk, architectural documentations and the changing landscape of his homeland. 
• Dreaming in the Anthropocene  | NZ photographer Chris Corson-Scott's exhibition resolutely addresses the Festival thematic, Identity, while engaging conceptually with contemporary global discourse. His 2016 extended exploration of the South Island yielded images remarkable for their unsettling juxtapositions of historic industry within the reclaiming natural world, the remnants of industrial behemoths on which the prosperity of New Zealand was formed.

• Talking Culture - Shahidul Alam | on 3 June, the key presentation of our 2017 international guest curator - Shahidul Alam. Shahidul will introduce his ideas and concepts around the Identity exhibition in this year's Festival hub.

The Auckland Festival of Photography  is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Photoforum, a regional grouping of international photography festivals across NZ, Australia and Asia. Members comprise Angkor, Ballarat, Chiang Mai, Chobi Mela, Delhi, Fotografica Bogota, Guatephoto, Head On, Higashikawa, Obscura, Pingyao, Shimmer, Singapore and, of course, the Auckland Festival of Photography. The Asia Pacific Photoforum seeks to further the presence of photography across the Asia Pacific region as a medium for artistic expression and truthful dissemination of ideas and information in an increasingly globalising world.  View the website at http://asiapacificphotoforum.com/ Image: Alive - Battambang : © Kim Hak