A PDF copy of pages 114-115 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Aibohphobia'. Photo with permission: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. Photo: John Collie.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "USAR being briefed at the Art Gallery".
The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu on Montreal Street.
COCA Gallery and the Christchurch Art Gallery seen from Gloucester Street.
This thesis considers the presence and potential readings of graffiti and street art as part of the wider creative public landscape of Christchurch in the wake of the series of earthquakes that significantly disrupted the city physically and socially. While documenting a specific and unprecedented period of time in the city’s history, the prominence of graffiti and street art throughout the constantly changing landscape has also highlighted their popularity as increasingly entrenched additions to urban and suburban settings across the globe. In post-quake Christchurch, graffiti and street art have often displayed established tactics, techniques and styles while exploring and exposing the unique issues confronting this disrupted environment, illustrating both a transposable nature and the entwined relationship with the surrounding landscape evident in the conception of these art forms. The post-quake city has afforded graffiti and street art the opportunity to engage with a range of concepts: from the re-activation and re-population of the empty and abandoned spaces of the city, to commentaries on specific social and political issues, both angry and humorous, and notably the reconsideration of entrenched and evolving traditions, including the distinction between guerrilla and sanctioned work. The examples of graffiti and street art within this work range from the more immediate post-quake appearance of art in a group of affected suburbs, including the increasingly empty residential red-zone, to the use of the undefined spaces sweeping the central city, and even inside the Canterbury Museum, which housed the significant street art exhibition Rise in 2013-2014. These settings expose a number of themes, both distinctive and shared, that relate to both the post-disaster landscape and the concerns of graffiti and street art as art movements unavoidably entangled with public space.
A photograph of members of the Kaiapoi Menzshed group standing in front of the stands they have built for an outdoor art gallery.
A page banner promoting an article titled, "Art Gallery to be lifted".
A page banner advertising a feature titled, 'Street art: Christchurch's outdoor gallery'.
The Christchurch Art Gallery, with the City Gallery Apartments in the background.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Briefing at the art gallery following Canterbury's earthquake".
A page banner promoting an article about wall art in New Brighton.
A view down Gloucester Street, with the Art Gallery Apartments in the background.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Veteran Christchurch art dealer Jonathan Smart at Queenstown's Toi O Tahuna yesterday, where a valuable collection of New Zealand art has found a temporary home after Mr Smart's new gallery was condemned because of earthquake damage".
It's hoped a new art installation in Ōtautahi Christchurch can help people talk their worries away through a series of telephones by the riverside. Twelve telephones have popped up across sites commemorating the city's devastating 2011 earthquakes. The group behind the project is Flourish Kia Puawai. Its associate director Sharon Torstonson spoke to Corin Dann.
An entry from Roz Johnson's blog for 19 December 2013 entitled, "More Wall Art".
An entry from Roz Johnson's blog for 17 December 2013 entitled, "Wall Art Christchurch ".
A page banner promoting an article about a pavement art chalk drawing of Christchurch.
The front of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu on Montreal Street.
The demolition site of the Gallery Apartments building, situated behind the Christchurch Art Gallery.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake.
'185 Empty Chairs', Pete Majendie's art installation commemorating those who died in the earthquake.
The demolition site of the Gallery Apartments building, situated behind the Christchurch Art Gallery.
A digitally manipulated image of a statue of the Virgin Mary in a broken window of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The photographer comments, "Before the February 2011 earthquake the statue above was facing into the Cathedral looking down a corridor, but after it had turned 180 degrees to point towards the window. The statue of Mary turning like this gave a sign of hope for the people of Christchurch. It was amongst one of the most photographed things after the earthquake until it was removed".
The clock tower of the former Railway Station, encased in plywood to prevent further damage. A banner sponsored by The Press hangs below the clock, covered with words which symbolise the September earthquake. The photographer comments, "After the September earthquake the clocked stopped at 04:35 and everyone campaigned to have this clock left as it was. At that time the building was believed to be OK. Two more earthquakes later and the possible memorial will probably end up like a lot of Christchurch's heritage buildings on a huge pile of stone and bricks in Bottle Lake Forest".
Today, art is my inspiration, at least as a starting point. The title of this blog post may seem whimsical, but it is both a practical description of our subject today and a reference to the art of centuries past. … Continue reading →
Holes in a brick building on Fitzgerald Avenue are marked with spray-painted numbers.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Major earthquake hits Christchurch. Civil Defence base at the Art Gallery".