18 Apr 2019

Whangarei wins funding for Camera Obscura project

From Morning Report, 8:49 am on 18 April 2019

Three Whangarei women who dreamed up a unique attraction for the city are elated it's been funded at last. The Camera Obscura project has been granted the $459,000 it needed, from the Provincial Growth Fund. Whangarei photographer Diane Stoppard, architect Felicity Christian and sculptor Trish Clark designed the Camera Obscura some years ago as a giant riverside sculpture. It's had local support to the tune of more than $400,000 - but it's been stuck at that point for want of the remaining funds. Ms Stoppard says the Camera Obscura will be the first public one in New Zealand and Australia and it's essentially a big walk-in movie camera. It'll project images of the world outside on to its inside walls, through a tiny hole in the exterior. Ms Stoppard told RNZ Northland reporter Lois Williams the plan is to build it beside Whangarei's open and shut bascule bridge.