What is the Rainbow Challenge?
The Rainbow challenge is a 7-week (Or 7 Day) online workshop where you will be creating imagery that will be curated in an exhibition for the Auckland Festival of Photography with the goal that it will become part of a permanent installation somewhere in the country (we are still working on this part).
We will be creating 7 monochromatic images in total. Monochromatic means one colour. So week one will be Purple then Blue, then Teal, then Green, then Gold, then Orange, then Red. Each week you will be on the hunt for monochromatic images within your world.
The final collaborative piece will create a rainbow made up of individual blocks of colour images and will be designed to celebrate Pride and Allyship.
The idea for the exhibition came from the following story.
Lillian who is a Click Happy student in Christchurch came up to Wellington for a Create Happy Magazine workshop. She has recently realized that she is a lesbian and became quite emotional after spending time on Cuba street in Wellington's downtown. "You guys have a rainbow crosswalk and there is even a drag queen crossing light! I walked into a bookstore with a rainbow flag in the window and some old dude was at the counter...he could have been gay or an ally it didn't matter...he made me feel welcome. When I walk down Christchurch in a pride shirt I am worried I will be judged or confronted...in Wellington, I felt completely safe being me. I need to figure out how to help Christchurch to be as welcoming as Wellington. "
We were already exploring monochromatic imagery in Click Happy so it made sense that we used the blocks of colours to create something beautiful for Lillian to spread our trust's message of compassion for Every Body.
We are looking for classes, libraries, and youth groups to host local versions of the national workshop or you can join individually.
Each week we will release a small amount of content that will help you develop your visual storytelling skills and then will pair that with an image challenge. There will also be techniques and challenges that will help you to develop your creative voice.
So we need either LGBQT+ youth groups, youth workers, librarians, teachers, or arts organizations to host a 7-week block of either in-school or after-school workshops that are held at no cost to the students.
The leader creates a safe space for sharing content and allows space for the students to take ownership and run the program and develop it as they see fit. We will be hosting the national project but there is nothing keeping you from creating local exhibitions. This will need to be co-designed by the students.
What sort of Equipment do I need to photograph for the exhibition?
Anything that will take a picture -
- DSLR/ Mirrorless Camera
- Cellphone
- Tablet
- Cyanotype
- a Pinhole camera...doesn't matter. If you can take and image and then digitize it and submit it...perfect.
You can edit it with anything that you like
- Photoshop
- Lightroom
- Snapseed
- Any app that allows you to modify your image but there needs to be a photographic element that you took in the final image and you cannot use copyrighted images from others.
What do the hosts need to provide?
- A venue for students to meet up.
- A police-screened teacher, librarian, or youth worker to hold space for the students - or in school groups could hold the workshops for themselves during lunch or in class if allowed.
- Ideally things that could be used in monochromatic photography such as:
- $2.00 shop plastic tablecloths in the colours of the rainbow.
- Facepaint and glitter if the students want to become part of the art
- Fabric backgrounds or cardboard backgrounds.
- Clothes or objects in primary colours to use as still life or flat lays.
The students can be asked to bring things from home that are those colours as well to increase the number of objects that they have to experiment with. Or you can just go on meditative walks to see how many things of that colour you can find and photograph in interesting ways.
How old do I need to be to enter my content?
This project is for students who are under 24.
Do I need to be LGBQT+ identifying to take the images?
Nope you just need to consider yourself an ally.
How do I sign up our group/class ?
Sign up form is at the bottom of this page.
What if I'm an individual and I just want to sign up but am not part of a group?
Sign up below as an individual and we will send you the materials so that you can do the project on your own but be part of the collective.