Graffiti on a damaged building on Colombo Street. The photographer comments, "This street art has been unseen by the general Christchurch population as it was off limits in the Red Zone".
A graffiti-style recruitment advertisement for the NZ Police, depicting police officer Spence Kingi pulling a woman from the rubble.
A graffiti-style recruitment advertisement for the NZ Police, depicting police officer Spence Kingi pulling a woman from the rubble.
A PDF copy of pages 328-329 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Unsanctioned Graffiti Across the City'. Photo: Reuben Woods
Graffiti on a brick wall reads "Pray hope and don't worry". The photographer comments, "Seen on a wall on Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch".
An elaborate graffiti tag sprayed on a wall beside a demolition site on Tuam Street. A collection of abandoned objects lie on the site. The photographer comments, "Graffiti spotted in the Christchurch earthquake red zone. What I liked was the odd mixture of bits and bobs around it".
A PDF copy of pages 326-327 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Sanctioned Graffiti Across the City'. Photos: Reuben Woods, Wongi FREAK Wilson (Deadpool Production, Graffalaphabet, BDS Full Production).
Graffiti on a damaged building. The photographer comments, "They should have painted four leaf clover, if they wanted this tagging to survive the demolition of the earthquake damaged Ozone in Christchurch
A graffiti-style recruitment advertisement for the NZ Police, depicting police officer Nao Yoshimizu comforting the grieving relative of an earthquake victim. The image has been further graffitied to hide the officer's uniform, and the original advertisement text ("You too can do something extraordinary. Become a cop.") altered to read "You too can do something ordinary. Become a human".
Graffiti of an angel clutching a bottle, accompanied by the text "Chritchurch (sic) living make a good man drink." The photographer comments, "Living in Christchurch during the earthquakes was hard on all of us. Some people got drunk to forget or blot out the aftershocks, whilst others dare not drink so that they would be in full control just in case another big earthquake/aftershock occurred. As of today 24 September 2011 there has been 8660 earthquakes/aftershocks in the Christchurch area".
Various walls on the street of Christchurch have become public art spaces. This work, "The Phoenix", by professional graffiti artists, Jacob, aka Yikes, Nick, aka Icarus and Wongi includes a fire Phoenix and the words "Christchurch destined to rise". Above it is an advertisement for Phonequip.
Graffiti on a wooden wall depicts a child pointing at a site across the street and reads "I remember when the Kazbah was over there." The photographer comments, "A local street artist has commemorated Christchurch's deadliest earthquake. The anniversary is tomorrow. Where the photograph was taken was the site of the Ozone Hotel, which has now gone as well. For some of us who live and work in the East of Christchurch the earthquake was not what happened in the City as we were almost unaware of it. We had no water, toilets and most of all no electricity for weeks. For myself petrol was low and with tales of all the petrol stations on our side of town being damaged we could not take the chance of venturing out on severely damaged roads to find no petrol and the possibility of not getting home. We walked around and saw the damage that was local to us. TJ's Kazbah was one that stood out. A building that had a beauty with its round tower standing proud and always looked well kept - it was now collapsed. Its tower, which was once pointing towards the sky was laying on its side. It had kept its shape, but had a lightning shaped crack through it. The one thing that kept us feeling almost normal through the coming weeks was The Press our daily paper still being delivered even though the Press building and staff had suffered so badly themselves.