Avonside memories
Its name was taken from a simple message daubed onto the front door of a red-zoned house – Thx 4 the Memories.
That final goodbye, summing up the feelings of a community whose homes and histories were lost to the February 2011 earthquake, became the title of an exhibition celebrating the people of Avonside.
First displayed in central Christchurch in 2013, it will be revived today at a reserve at the corner of Patten St and Retreat Rd, an area that served as a gathering place immediately after the quakes.
The images of life in the months and years that followed are stark in their simplicity – a lonely washing line in a back yard, families at play, an abandoned bicycle in an empty street.
The exhibition is the work of the Place in Time team, from the University of Canterbury’s Ilam School of Fine Arts.
Asked to undertake the project by Avonside blogger Lawrence Roberts, photographers Tim Veling and Bridgit Anderson took the bulk of the pictures between 2011 and June 2013, a time before the final outcome for many Avonside residents was known.
Veling said the team wanted to create an archive reflecting the community’s collective experience at a time of rawness and bringing the exhibition back to the suburb was ‘‘a homecoming’’..
‘‘It’s a good reminder for people who pass through it of what it once was – a home to people and histories in the soil.
‘‘It’s a beautiful place to walk the dog, but beyond that go into the fields and use your senses – you can sense ghosts.’’
The project, complemented by the searing stories captured by Place in Time originator Glenn Busch, encapsulates what the community suffered, AvonO¯ ta¯ karo Network (AvON) spokesman Evan Smith believes.
‘‘For many people that were red-zoned it is easy to forget what we went through – in fact we go out of our way sometimes to forget what we went through because it’s so painful, but it’s important to acknowledge it for healing.’’ Smith, whose own home in Richmond had to be demolished, believes the exhibition’s stories will allow those who were not directly involved to appreciate the impact ‘‘They are powerful stories and it is worth ensuring they are being told.’’
AvON has brought the project to Avonside with help from New Brighton Menz Shed and students at Shirley Boys High School.
There is permission for the exhibition to be at the site for up to five years.
Smith is delighted at the photographs’ return to the community they reflect.
‘‘When I saw them in Worcester Boulevard [in 2013] it felt like the city centre had taken one of the stories of a community where it happened. It didn’t belong in town.
‘‘This is about bringing some of that history back where it belongs in the suburbs and communities that were most impacted.’’
The exhibition will be opened at 11am today by Mayor Lianne Dalziel, with children from the nearby Linwood Primary, Avonside Girls High and Shirley Boys High schools all taking part.
A barbecue will follow, before guests walk through the red zone to the Medway Bridge memorial on the Avonside Drive riverbank for a river of flowers ceremony at 12.51pm, the time of the quake.