Auckland's vibrant cultures celebrate anniversary across city
• April 4, 2024
Regina Tao
‘A Portrait of Our City’ photo exhibition for World of Cultures in Auckland Central City Library. Photo: Regina Tao
Dancing, storytelling, embroidery, and ceramics are just some of the free family-fun events as an annual multicultural festival takes over Tāmaki Makaurau marking its 25th Anniversary.
A photo exhibition ‘A Portrait of Our City’ is also part of the 70 events for the annual World of Cultures, run by Auckland Council from March 21 until April 14, 2024, which celebrates the vibrancy of the people across the region.
Ai Shimazu, of Auckland Central City Library, believes the World of Culture events they host are all “about representation”.
“The World of Culture festivals, all the libraries do it and some of them do really big events and some do small ones," said Shimazu, a librarian for activation.
"People can bring their kids, or they might be people our age or younger who want to know more about themselves.”
Central City Library holds story time events from African to Chinese storytelling along with workshops such as Nokshi Katha (Bengali embroidery).
“Through communication and sharing stories people get to know one another,” says Shimazu.
Listen HERE to Ai Shimazu on why the events and photo exhibition matter.
"Particularly for kids these events are something to look forward to and a place for them to feel like they belong".
The ‘A Portrait of Our City’ exhibition in the Central City Library, shows our inner-city community through photographs of individuals from various backgrounds and cultures.
Its creative conceptor photographer Abi Chinniah says when capturing the photos a key part of her work is getting people to wear traditional garments if they are comfortable with it.
“I love it when people say no because it's a really important part of the creative process and their story.
"I'm really passionate about it [since] I lived in the city for 10 years, that was the motivation of why I wanted to do it.”
She says that “within minority and majority groups, you have different cultural groups within that group so it's important…telling their stories and having them have their words represented.”
Listen to Abhi Chinniah explain that process.
In the next few months, Central City Library are continuing to host more diverse events for the festival from Filipino storytelling on April 6 to Thai music and ceramics on April 13.
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