FromThePit captures the in-between moments of Aotearoa’s live music scene

In a music landscape shaped as much by moments as releases, FromThePit is back with a focus on what happens in between the headlines.

Now in its eighth year, the annual showcase brings together 58 photographers, each offering a different entry point into Aotearoa’s live music culture. The result is a body of work that moves across genres, venues, and scenes, from packed rooms to fleeting backstage moments, all grounded in the raw immediacy of performance.

At the centre of the 2026 edition sits a new audio-visual showcase. One hundred images, selected from a much wider pool, are set against a soundtrack of local music, creating a layered viewing experience that mirrors the rhythm of a live set. It will debut at the Taite Music Prize at the New Zealand International Convention Centre, placing music photography within the same cultural frame as the artists it documents.

FromThePit showcases what often goes unseen. Images that hold onto details emitted from press shots or polished release campaigns. It's a record of presence over perfection, and a reflection of artistry in a pure unfiltered form.

The music industry is shifting, and popular culture is becoming more curated, controlled and manufactured than ever before. In online spaces where connection is most sought and yet so fragmented, organic matter is both confronting and necessary.

FromThePit delivers just that by anchoring itself in the physical - reminding you what it means to stand in a room with live sound, to witness a set as it unfolds, to be part of something that only exists for that moment.

Rolling out nationwide during NZ Music Month from May 1st, FromThePit sits as a living archive of Aotearoa music. One that values the in-between, the unpolished, and the real.