Spotlight: Taika Waititi's Photography Exhibition for Zeekr Opens to the Public in Auckland

Premium electric vehicle brand Zeekr has collaborated with filmmaker, writer and actor Taika Waititi to create Spotlight, his first photography exhibition, set to open to the public from 17–20 September 2026.

The exhibition is a new photographic project by Waititi, bringing the same eye that has shaped his celebrated film and television work to a new body of still images. Free and open to the public, Spotlight gives Aucklanders the chance to see the work firsthand in an intimate gallery setting.

Waititi, whose work has carried a distinctly local, unmistakably Aotearoa sensibility onto the world stage, brings that same sensibility to Spotlight. Each of the seven images portrays a distinctive scene, lit by the headlights of the Zeekr 7X.

Spotlight explores the notion that ideas rarely announce themselves, but instead often emerge uninvited and unexpected, and a moment where the ordinary can become extraordinary.

Through seven unique creations, Zeekr invites viewers into Taika Waititi’s imagination, with each world appearing as an idea might first appear to its creator; emerging from the dark and suddenly vivid.

"This process and creating each scene has had lots of parallels to filmmaking. The Zeekr team let me run with this idea, which gave this collaboration the appeal for me. Come see it, there's a lot to unpick in each scene," says Waititi.

Dane Fisher, Group General Manager of NordEast, Zeekr’s New Zealand distributor, says the brand wanted to engage a New Zealand audience in a way that speaks to culture, beyond an automotive conversation.

"We describe our Zeekr community as being in a ‘Lane of One’, Kiwi who define their own path, and we chose to collaborate with Taika to create Spotlight because he absolutely epitomises this ethos. The perspective he’s brought to this project is unmistakably his,” says Fisher.

Spotlight by Zeekr in collaboration with Taika Waititi runs from 17-20 September 2026 at Studio 230 in Ponsonby, Auckland, with free entry.

The full suite of photographs from the Spotlight exhibition will be released to view online at zeekrbytaika.com after the exhibition concludes.