A photograph of a protest sign reading, "Oxymorons of the week: Sisters of Mercy, EQC helpdesk, pay rise, rebuild strategy". The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Woodham Road, Linwood".
A photograph of a humorous sign reading, "Warning! No pot holes next 400 m". The photograph captioned by Paul Corliss, "Just before intersection of Kilmore St with Fitzgerald Avenue".
A photograph of a protest sign reading, "EQC, screwing you over since September 2010. Phree-fone 0900 GET STUFT". The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Woodham Road, Linwood".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Replica of Tui ad billboard on a house at 739 Gloucester Street. This one appeared during the Rugby World Cup".
A photograph of a protest sign reading, "When it comes to the East, I see nothing, I hear nothing, and I care even less!!" and showing the face of Gerry Brownlee superimposed on the body of Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Woodham Road, Linwood".
A photograph of a sign taped to a window. The sign includes a bullet pointed list of humorous observations about Christchurch following the February 2011 earthquake. The sign reads, "You know you're from Christchurch when: you use the term 'liquefaction' and 'seismic design' in casual conversation; digging a hole and shitting in your garden is no longer weird; your mayor describes the city as munted. If he means FUBARed, you agree; weaving through car size potholes on the street is no longer weird; a shower is heaven; you have a preference of which kind of silt you'd rather shovel, dry or wet; you see tanks...driving around town; you are always noting what you are under; due to frequent aftershocks during the night, you sleep like a baby - every 10 minutes you wake up and shit yourself".
A photograph submitted by Gaynor James to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "Kiwi humour never far away. Photo taken 21 July 2011".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Someone doesn't seem to appreciate the Cantabrian humour in the slogan 'Yesterday's ??? on wheels'. New Brighton Road".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Sullivans Irish Pub, 150 Manchester Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Even the portaloos were supporting the All Blacks during the Rugby World Cup. This one was seen in Breezes Road, Aranui".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Manikin against sculpture in Cathedral Square. This began as light relief for the crews working within the cordon in the weeks after the February earthquake where the manikins were strategically positioned around the red zone at night".
A photograph of a paste-up on an earthquake-damaged brick wall. The paste-up depicts a bandaid with a speech bubble reading, "I'll kiss it better".
A Gap Filler project, Wayne Youle's "I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour " (2011), is a shadowboard mural on an empty wall in Sydenham which depicts things lost during the earthquake.
A Gap Filler project, Wayne Youle's "I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour " (2011), is a shadowboard mural on an empty wall in Sydenham which depicts things lost during the earthquake.
A Gap Filler project, Wayne Youle's "I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour " (2011), is a shadowboard mural on an empty wall in Sydenham which depicts things lost during the earthquake.
A Gap Filler project, Wayne Youle's "I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour " (2011), is a shadowboard mural on an empty wall in Sydenham which depicts things lost during the earthquake.
A Gap Filler project, Wayne Youle's "I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour " (2011), is a shadowboard mural on an empty wall in Sydenham which depicts things lost during the earthquake.
A photograph of Wayne Youle's mural 'I Seem to Have Temporarily Misplaced My Sense of Humour' (2012). The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Art installation at an empty site on Colombo Street, Sydenham".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cashel Street - worker has written in the demolition dust with his finger".
A photograph of a paste-up on a Colombo Street bus shelter. The paste-up shows a computer error message, reading, "Capitalism has crashed. Install new system?
A photograph of a paste-up on the wall of the earthquake-damaged Knox Church. The paste-up depicts a bandaid with a speech bubble reading, "I'll kiss it better".
A photograph of a paste-up on the wall of the earthquake-damaged Knox Church. The paste-up depicts a bandaid with a speech bubble reading, "I'll kiss it better".
A photograph of a paste-up on the wall of the earthquake-damaged Knox Church. The paste-up depicts a bandaid with a speech bubble reading, "I'll kiss it better".
A photograph of a paste-up on the wall of the earthquake-damaged Knox Church. The paste-up depicts a bandaid with a speech bubble reading, "I'll kiss it better".
A photograph of a paste-up on a wall on Peterborough Street. The paste-up depicts an excavator picking up demolition material, with a speech bubble reading, "Nom nom".
A photograph of a paste-up on a wall on Peterborough Street. The paste-up depicts an excavator picking up demolition material, with a speech bubble reading, "Nom nom".
A photograph of a paste-up on the cordon fence surrounding the Crowne Plaza demolition site. The paste-up is in the shape of an awards ribbon, and reads, "Voted Chch best demo 2012".
A video of a presentation by Thomas Petschner during the Resilience and Response Stream of the 2016 People in Disasters Conference. The presentation is titled, "Medical Clowning in Disaster Zones".The abstract for this presentation reads as follows: To be in a crisis caused by different kinds of natural disasters (as well as a man made incidents), dealing with ongoing increase of problems and frequent confrontation with very bad news isn't something that many people can easily cope with. This applies obviously to affected people but also to the members of SAR teams, doctors in the field and the experienced humanitarians too. The appropriate use of humour in crisis situations and dis-functional environments is a great tool to make those difficult moments more bearable for everyone. It helps injured and traumatised people cope with what they're facing, and can help them to recover more quickly too. At the same time humorous thinking can help to solve some of the complex problems emergency responders face. This is in addition to emergency and medical only reactions - allowing for a more holistic human perspective, which can provide a positive lasting effect. The ability to laugh is hardwired into our systems bringing a huge variety of physical, mental and social benefits. Even a simple smile can cultivate optimism and hope, while laughter can boost a hormone cocktail - which helps to cope with pain, enhance the immune system, reduce stress, re-focus, connect and unite people during difficult times. Humour as an element of psychological response in crisis situations is increasingly understood in a much wider sense: as the human capacity to plan and achieve desired outcomes with less stress, thus resulting in more 'predictable' work in unpredictable situations. So, if we approach certain problems in the same way Medical Clowns do, we may find a more positive solution. Everyone knows that laughter is an essential component of a healthy, happy life. The delivery of 'permission to laugh' into disaster zones makes a big difference to the quality of life for everyone, even if it's for a very short, but important period of time. And it's crucial to get it right as there is no second chance for the first response.