Beyond Exhausted .

Curated by Sophie Davis, Beyond Exhausted focused on the idea of the reprint to explore the contemporary possibilities of publishing. While print media may have played an important historic role in feminist, queer and protest movements; the very notion of ‘independent publishing’ has become a more hybrid political gesture and field of enquiry for artists working today.

My contribution to Beyond Exhausted is based around the last three issues of The Silver Bulletin, a newspaper I was producing between 2011-2012 while living in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Although all issues of The Silver Bulletin responded to the social climate immediately following the Canterbury earthquakes, the three issues in question posed a distinct change in direction for the publication itself, as well as in my own thinking and practice. This trio of newspapers were particularly political about the redevelopment and rebranding of post-quake Christchurch and serve as an document of this time.

I worked with Ilam Press to reprint these three issues, which were then distributed out of the gallery space to visitors during the exhibition. They are presented alongside sculptural and graphic works that reflect on the ideas of democracy and symbolism in the Christchurch rebuild and the city’s historic urban planning—highlighting how this relates to structural relationships between design, power and cultural capital. Re-presenting this work four-to-five years later hopefully highlights rapid shifts within the city, revisiting the political and cultural energy immediately following the earthquakes.