Christchurch-Otautahi

The Cocoon

We’re in Christchurch for a few days this week – to see the Whole House Re-Use exhibition in the Canterbury Museum (open till August 24th), to explore the new Christchurch emerging from the ruins of the 2010-11 earthquakes, and to visit family and old friends.

The  Whole House Re-Use project is so powerful and important that we’ll be posting a full article later in the week.  It involved the careful demolition of a single house in the red zone of Christchurch, the saving of every bit of material from it, and the creation of 390 new objects by a hundred artists and craftspeople from around the country.

Nic Moon, our favorite artist, and her team have created an exquisite “cocoon” – a studio with side panels which can be lifted like wings.

Today’s other posting, below, is a pastiche of thoughts and impressions of the fractured Christchurch city and some of the creative responses of its people.