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Dr Reuben Woods did his doctorate at the University of Canterbury on urban art. The particular topic for his PhD was an exploration of graffiti and street art within post-earthquake Christchurch.

Jessie Rawcliffe’s Grazer, in Cathedral Square.
REUBEN WOODS

On the role of urban art and the timing of its rise post-quake, Woods says: “People were willing to see art in the streets as a way for us to rethink our sense of identity, rethink our sense of community – it showed that in many ways the environment we are given, or feel like we are given, can play into what is possible and seeing an environment that had been broken there was an unlimited sense of what the possibility could be in the rebuild, which was much more powerful than when you see an environment where the change is occurring because someone with the strings of control have decided, we need a new building here.”

Today, Woods is the creative director at Watch This Space, a charity that maintains a crowdsourced map of street art locations throughout the city, among other things. After the earthquakes he was travelling overseas and thought, “we have a city that is having to recover and reform itself – art in the streets is going to play a big role in our cities recovery”. This led him to study that full time and get his doctorate, exploring graffiti, street art and independent public art that was emerging in Ōtautahi post-quake. “Because it was a topic I was truly passionate about it, it never felt like the chore of what post grad study can be.”

Established in 2016, Watch This Space has developed a database of artists and uses that to connect building owners looking for someone to use a wall as a canvas to express themselves. It also offers bespoke tours for those who want to have an introduction to the art in the city.

Swiftmantis’ Olive, at Little High on St Asaph St.
CENTURI CHAN

The online map is easy to use and lets you zoom in on a street and click to see images of the art, and often shots taken when it was being worked on. Since there can be a high turnover of art, the online map records not just what is there today, but also photos of past works too.

This is testament to it being a fast moving art form and everyone involved realises the art probably will not be there in decades to come like a building, statue or fountain usually is. Some of the street art crumbles away as fresh buildings rise up, while others are now hidden beneath layers of colour as new images have been painted over them. And maybe that is their true value – unlike the Mona Lisa, kept on hallowed soil of an art gallery with thousands shuffling by to pay their respects, street art is simply there, to be appreciated by all with its lack of permanence enhancing its beauty.

Intersection with other art forms

Woods runs Watch This Space, maintaining a crowdsourced map of street art locations in Christchurch.
IAIN MCGREGOR / THE PRESS

Woods has also provided training and written guides for up and coming urban artists. One is called How to Transition from Street Art to Murals and was written for Toi Ōtautahi. This is a partnership between the Christchurch City Council, Creative New Zealand, Rātā Foundation, mana whenua, and Manatū Taonga Ministry of Culture and Heritage. It acts as a virtual arts office through its website and seeks to tell stories of creativity of many kinds – such as poets, painters, authors, sculptors and musicians.

Kiri Jarden is the principal arts adviser at Toi Ōtautahi. She and her team commission artworks as part of council capital programmes. She says street art has always had a place in the city, though it was not always as well supported as it has become post-quake.

“The real change is in the perception of street art as part of city identity. As with other artforms, street art and artists reconnected people to the centre while also contributing to a sense of hope and renewal,” Jarden says.

DTR Crew’s 3-D mural at Riverside Market.
REUBEN WOODS

She’s also chairperson of Paemanu, Ngāi Tahu’s contemporary visual arts trust. “Ngāi Tahu have had a long tradition of storytelling through toi, of the places we reside, work and camp. That mana whenua narratives have found space in the rebuild of the city is absolutely appropriate. Ōtautahi I think can rightly claim to be the public arts capital of Aotearoa, with all artforms giving expression to our stories, old and new,” she says.

Another person promoting street art is Selina Faimalo, who organised FLARE Ōtautahi Street Art Festival. It was “an extraordinary event that revitalised the central city, particularly the SALT District”, she says.

“Featuring over 44 new artworks, it provided a platform for street artists to showcase their talent, while also creating a vibrant community spirit. By integrating art into our urban landscape, the festival enhances our city’s cultural fabric and accessibility to art. Investing in such events is crucial for nurturing our cultural identity and enriching our urban environment.”

Philip Trusttum outside his art takeover at the Colombo Mall in Christchurch.
PETER MEECHAM / THE PRESS

Yet another example of an arts-based transformation happening right now is The Colombo Art Takeover, on until the end of June. It features large paintings both inside and out of the retail centre from the last 24 years of artist Philip Trusttum. This is produced and curated by Deborah McCormick of newly established DMC, who is the former chief executive of Scape Public Art, which has been responsible for many pieces of art in the city. There are more than 120 paintings on show for all to see.

There is clearly a lot going on here and I asked Woods about the growth of Christchurch street art and his observations on the timing of it in an interview for Seeds podcast: “There is a combination of the physical possibility – you know, we were in an environment that had plentiful spaces and walls and surfaces that could be painted, but we also had to respond to an event that has defined our city and is in many ways unparalleled to any previous event in Ōtautahi’s history as well,” he replied.

“So there was a perfect storm of physical possibility as well as the social response, all within a time where globally this form of art was becoming increasingly recognised and utilised as a way to place make and to declare expression and to do all these different things.”

SHIFT: Urban Art Takeover transformed Canterbury Museum into a street art mecca before the facility closed for a five-year revamp.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / THE PRESS

Canterbury Museum takeover

A noticeable example of street art that many thousands connected with at the start of 2023 was curated by Woods, as he oversaw SHIFT: Urban Art Takeover, which involved repainting the inside of the Canterbury Museum before it was closed for five years of renovations. More than 60 urban artists worked across five floors and 35 spaces, which even included rooms the public had never seen before.

Woods says it was more than just street art at play. “Bringing in artists from outside who would be defined as non-institutional in many ways, into this space and allowing them to work their magic – you know, we made a tattoo studio in one of the spaces, we tried to replicate a skating space, we had glow in the dark fluorescent rooms, we had projections and animations, we had costume dioramas that played off what you would expect to see in a museum but rather than an elegant Victorian dress you saw paint splattered, ripped clothes of a graffiti artist who had maybe just scaled a building … so we really tried to play on that relationship with the museum as a building itself.”

When it was announced, museum director Anthony Wright said: “All the artists we’ve talked to have been really keen to be involved. This project and the museum setting are really sparking their imaginations. I think visitors will be really staggered when they see SHIFT for the first time. I’ve been blown away by the creativity and stunning works that are appearing all around the building.”

Askew One’s INNOVATE at Ara polytechnic.
REUBEN WOODS

The involvement of that many people clearly went beyond the scope of just focusing on street art. Woods says: “We also wanted to show the diverse output of urban creatives as well – we have so much talent in Aotearoa and they are doing a lot more than painting on walls – they are talented designers, animators, digital artists, film makers, photographers. The histories of all these forms of urban art have led to all these interesting places.”

Woods reflects on the exhibition now: “The museum is a building that holds a lot of special memories for people – it’s an iconic institution. So we knew a lot of the audience were going to be people who wanted to see the museum for a final time and the state it was, but of course they are going to see it in a state that it never had been, so it was a really interesting contrast.

“Upon reflection I came to think of it as a way to actually show people that change is OK. That things change and that actually change can be really refreshing and can suggest to us different ways of doing things.”

Nick Lowry painted this mural on St Asaph St in Christchurch, while Nathan Ingram painted the basketball court.
REUBEN WOODS

Many may bemoan the loss of the old city. Rightly so – many of those buildings did have architectural value and it’s a shame they were destroyed. However, I grew up in Christchurch and without rose tinted glasses looking at the past, alongside those buildings were many others that were outdated, old concrete monuments of functionality without beauty. The fact they needed to be pulled down was a final testament to their lack of safety.

One of the powerful things about the rise of street art in Christchurch is how it’s being used to create and tell new stories. As the city embraces them, these pictures on buildings and walls become a new aspect and part of the city’s identity that was not there before. It also draws people to look at the art in the city and encourages a more open mind.

One urban artist committed to storytelling is Nick Lowry, who has done many large scale murals that show up on the Watch This Space website. In a video featuring his process he comments: “With my paintings I try to reinvent myself every time I approach a wall – to me muralism, that is the point – my emotional connectivity to it.”

Woods interviewed him for Watch This Space and, when asked about Christchurch, he says: “Christchurch has changed, it’s not as gritty and grimy as it used to be. But for a creative, someone who is on their own, trying to hustle for work, it’s amazing. You can create so many opportunities for yourself, whatever you can envision in your mind, you can achieve, it just depends on how far you are willing to push yourself.”

This new creative expression through urban art may serve as a catalyst to unify other artists as the city grows in other diverse art forms too. In his book on the arts scene of Christchurch, Bloomsbury South: The Arts in Christchurch 1933-1953, Peter Simmonds argued a national cultural contribution was made by many diverse artists living here at that time, noting: “It was a city in which painters lived with writers, writers promoted musicians, in which the arts and artists from different forms were deeply intertwined. And it was a city where artists developed a powerful synthesis of European modernist influences and an assertive New Zealand nationalism that gave mid-century New Zealand cultural life its particular shape.”

It is an interesting point and perhaps the city may reclaim what it had in the past – what does Woods think about that and the role street art might play? “I do believe art in the streets is a key component of a healthy wider creative ecosystem – because it can serve as a more accessible gateway to the arts for people. People who may never visit a gallery will inevitably encounter street art and it has the potential to unlock new ways of thinking about art and our daily experiences.

“Additionally, art in the streets is inclusive – there is no prerequisite for taking part, other than earnest enthusiasm. A city that embraces art in its streets is a city that embraces art.”

As the city rebuilds it will be worth watching how the old and new stories we tell – and our very identity as those living in this city – are outworked and are powerfully shown on our walls and buildings too.

Kophie Su’a-Hulsbosch and Janine Williams‘ Wāhine Toa mural on Hereford St.
REUBEN WOODS