Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 156

"All The King's Horses"

Here's another in the ongoing series of images from Barry Cleavin, one of New Zealand's top printmakers. Click on tabs below to see others in this now-extensive series.

After an Earthquake

Manchester Street, Christchurch 

Lichfield Street

October 2012

Once Upon a Time.... A Portrait

Dressed for a Carnival

In Pink

On a Kaiapoi River Bank

Red Zone Remnant

The Last Rhododendron

A Vivid Reminder

Of What Once Was

Wainoni Red Zone, 

Christchurch

One Tree

One Swing

Both Abandoned

Time to Move

You know it's time to move from your earthquake Red-Zoned garden when your driveway looks like this permanently [Suburban Bexley,  Christchurch]

And the approach to your garage has become a pond

And these guys have moved in

Coffee on the Run

In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes, pop-up cafes have, well... popped up, all over the central city.

Ruptures and Ruins

Keeping up with the ever-changing face of earthquake-ruined Christchurch

Blank stretches of land at the north end of Manchester Street.

The demolition of the Farmers' car park building, cnr Gloucester & Colombo Streets

The east side of the Theatre Royal building,, Gloucester Street.

Keeping an eye on the beginning of the blue Pallet Pavilion on the old Crowne Plaza Hotel site

Road ruptures, Armagh Street

The Holiday Inn on its way down

We have the container mall; we also have the container pedestrian way.

Sometimes the unwritten words between two nearby signs speaks volumes.

And again - the juxtaposition of signs

Two different expressions of the same sentiment

In an ideal world....

Just Stop!

Flowers and Containers

Tagging, Linwood

Earthquake Memorial, Stanmore Road

Wild flower displays on demolition sites, Linwood Village, Stanmore Road

The unexpected sightings on a morning bike ride

Christchurch

After the Earthquakes

Barry's Provocative Unpublished Minutes - 155

"Lear and Foss"

Another in the ongoing series from leading New Zealand printmaker, Barry Cleavin. To see his many other offerings, click on Cleavin in the label line below

Photographing a Concert

As Christchurch central city continues to dwindle – eaten away by ever-present demolition crews in the wake of two years of earthquakes – there are small pockets of creative people doing their utmost to create and maintain entertainment, inspiration and a general mood of excitement and hope. 

Not so many weeks ago, it was LuxCity (see earlier blog), that vibrant and sometimes crazy night that attracted thousands of Cantabrians to architectural light installations in Gloucester Street. 

The Dukes

The Eastern

On Saturday night, it was The Concert, organised by the Volunteer Army Foundation, the parent body of the University of Canterbury Student Volunteer Army that was set up by law student, Sam Johnson in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Harry Knight

As Johnson points out, over 36,000 hours of volunteer work have been registered in this past year and The Concert was organised as a thank-you. All people had to do to attend the free concert was to pre-pledge four hours of their time to a wide range of suggested causes – everything from assisting Gapfiller to gardening in conservation parks or working on sand dune restoration on the Canterbury coast.

A wide range of sponsors supported the event and 25 leading New Zealand names in music gave their time to provide eight hours of music.

 Music kicked off at 2pm and despite the freezing weather, a reasonable crowd rolled along to see everyone from Katchafire, The Eastern, Scribe, PNC, Pieter T, Savage, Dj-Sir-Vere, Che-Fu & the Kratez to  Avalanche City, Hollie Smith, Goodshirt, Dane Rumble, J. Williams, K.One, Tyson Tyler & DJ CXL, Illegal Banditz feat. Brooke, Kidz in Space, Annah Mac, House of Mountain, Hera, Dukes, Autozamm, Late Nyte Hype, Massad, with special guest appearances from Titanium and Christchurch Pops Choir! 

Dane Rumble

Before you go any further, I should point out that my approach to photographing a rock concert – or any sort of concert at all - probably doesn’t conform to the norm. 

Dane Rumble

Hollie Smith and Fan

As with any event, I’m as interested by the attendees as I am in the performers…. Often more so.

Hollie Smith

For me it’s about looking beyond the obvious. It’s about capturing a mood. It’s more than guitars, microphones and singers; it’s equally about the crowd, what they’re wearing and what they’re doing.

Sam Johnson - 2012 Coca Cola Amatil Young New Zealander of the Year

Annah Mac

I’m always an observer – wherever I am. For me, life is in the detail. More often than not, I home in on colour, texture, the incongruous, the unexpected, a hat, a pair of shoes, a smile. 

So these photos (a small sampling of the hundreds I took), are my expression of an event. I haven’t always bothered with captions, because nine times out of ten, I had no idea who I was photographing – and that especially applies to the performers. 

Call me out-of-touch if you will, but I like to think it’s about fun, about capturing a moment in time. And in this case, it was about being a witness to yet another extraordinary effort by a bunch of highly inspired and motivated individuals, who have gone beyond the call of duty to bring life back to this broken city.

Dane Rumble

I asked one young girl in the crowd what she thought of it all – just as that good-looking, new boy band, Titanium came to the stage – “I’m freezing my tits off in this weather but it’s worth it just to see these guys.”  That says it all, I thought to myself, as I squeezed between squealing girls. Shame a few more didn’t brave the cold weather because it was worth being there.