Meet me on the other side – artist's evocative response to Canterbury Earthquake

Christchurch artist Julia Morison’s exhibition, Meet me on the other side, is a bold response by both the artist and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, New Zealand, to the Canterbury earthquakes.

Senior Curator Justin Paton says Morison’s exhibition is “an evocative response to the earthquake of 22 February 2011.“

“From strange grey forms resting in cages, to old furniture that takes on a life of its own, through to beautiful abstract paintings made from ‘liqueurfaction’ silt, Meet me on the other side was acclaimed for its ‘horrifying brilliance’ and ‘force and pathos’ when it was shown in Auckland in late 2011.”

A series of paintings, entitled ‘Monochromes in Liqueurfaction’, were inspired by the shape of liquids that formed from broken bottles of alcohol in Morison’s home.

Originally shown in Auckland, the exhibition has been brought back to Christchurch for a six week showing in a first-floor space at NG boutique gallery and design studio. The exhibition is part of Christchurch Art Gallery’s Outer Spaces programme of exhibitions and events in spaces outside the Gallery, which is dedicated to taking art to the public while its own doors are closed and its collections are in safe storage.

Meet me on the other side will be at NG, 212 Madras Street from 10 February until 25 March 2012. Unfortunately there is no disabled access to the first floor of this building.
For more information visit www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz.

The artist

Julia Morison was born in Pahiatua in 1952. In 1988 she received the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, the Moët and Chandon Fellowship in 1990, and a Visual Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of New Zealand in 1994. She lived and worked in France from 1989, returning to Christchurch in 1999 where she taught painting at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts until 2006.

She exhibits regularly throughout New Zealand and her works are held in many of the country’s major public collections. In 2005 Morison received a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate Award, and in 2006 she was the subject of a major touring exhibition organised by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu and Dunedin Public Art Gallery. She was a member of the Curatorial Group for the 6th SCAPE Christchurch Biennial. Recently, her work has been seen in the 2010 Biennale of Sydney and in solo exhibitions at Tauranga Art Gallery and Two Rooms Auckland.