When the prompt “Faces” was announced my immediate thought was I do not do portraits! However the more I thought about extending the definition of the prompt and thought about my overarching theme of ‘my country this time round’ the easier the ideas started to flow.

In 2010 and 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand, experienced a series of devastating earthquakes that saw 185 people lose their lives, countless people injured and massive damage to buildings with the centre of the city losing in excess of 1400 buildings of all shapes and sizes. Our architecture pre quake was a mix of sterile grey buildings and a splattering of gothic architecture. While a nice place a live it was not all that inspiring (my opinion) when walking around the city.

However post quake the city has taken on a new life. The government of the day decided to seize the opportunity to recreate the inner city and set about creating precincts that are all linked together in various ways either through walkways or lanes. This has resulted in a colourful modern city with some exciting architecture. Buildings are all colours with oranges, reds, yellows, blues and many others. A lot of the shapes are quite boxy but that is the architecture of the day.

I wanted to showcase what a vibrant and colourful city it is and decided to do a modern quilt interpretation as that is how I view the city. A lot of the facades have wonderful detail but more importantly are often lined with laneways. The quilting reflects a lot of the straight lines of the city but the crossed lines represent the strong structural reinforcements of the buildings to ensure safety in any future major earthquake. They make you feel safe and secure!

40 inches x 20inches . Hand dyed and painted fabrics. Machine pieced and quilted.