Te Ao Hou: A Moment in Time (16 April to 7 August 2022)

We Stand Here: Celebrating Five Years of the Christchurch Documentary Project, and Children’s vision for Ōtautahi (9 July to 27 September 2021)

A city seen over five years, 2015-2019. Five suburbs from the north, east, south, west and centre, containing a multitude of communities all experiencing rapid change as a city recovers. As the landscape and built environment evolved these communities continued to do what they've always done: working to make their place meaningful; a place to feel connected to; a place to stand.

The Christchurch Documentary Project sought to capture a snapshot of life in our city during this period through the eyes of University of Canterbury, School of Fine Arts photography students. Their brief - to create a portrait of an area of Christchurch that was informed by both the physical environment and the often overlooked moments of community life. Starting with Halswell in 2015, followed by New Brighton and its neighbouring coastal suburbs, Bishopdale, Central City and finally Woolston in 2019.

The exhibition We Stand Here: celebrating five years of the Christchurch Documentary Project, curated by Senior lecturer of Photography and Place in Time Director, Tim Veling, brings together a selection of images from the project that honour the photographers involved and the people who so generously opened their doors and shared their stories. Tim's vision also enquires into the nature of representation in library archives and through his associated exhibition We Stand Here: Children's vision for their Ōtautahi, challenges the viewer to consider how younger generations will see themselves and their culture reflected in our city's public spaces.

• We Stand Here: celebrating five years of the Christchurch Documentary Project Te Pito Huarewa / Southbase Gallery,  Tuakiri | Identity, Level 2, Tūranga
• We Stand Here: Children's vision for their Ōtautahi beside Foundation Cafe, He Hononga | Connection, Ground floor, Tūranga (previously located outside Tautoru / TSB Space, Hapori | Community, Level 1)

Wild Ōtautahi - Exploring the wildlife of our city (20 March to 20 June 2021)

Inspired by Gavin Bishop’s illustrations from his book Wildlife of Aotearoa this exhibition told a story about the wildlife habitats of Ōtautahi. Gavin’s original illustrations of the bush, the rivers, the wetlands, the estuary, the sand dunes and the sea provide the context to explore the richness and fragility of these local habitats and species living in them.

Through engaging storyboards and gadgets, borrowed from conservation’s shed, this exhibition provided an opportunity to expand knowledge about local natives, how to protect them and make them thrive.

Exhibition Photos

View photos of the exhibition on Flickr

Illuminate: Unearthing treasures from our collection (3 August to 27 October 2019)

To celebrate our 160th birthday, we've gone deep into our vaults and rummaged our shelves to bring you some of our favourite gems.

Stunning, unexpected, extraordinary, curious - come and find your favourite!

Exhibition photos

View exhibition photos on Flickr

Va Oceans Between (18 May to 21 July 2019)

Va is the guiding curating principal of our exhibition Va Oceans Between and is a fundamental Pacific value that underlines everything. The relationships we have with each other, with the physical world and the spiritual word connecting past, present and future.

Va Oceans Between is an exploration of Pacific Peoples living in Christchurch and their relationship to the Moana, Ōtautahi and each other through the use of never seen before Polynesian artefacts from Canterbury Museum, oral histories and visual, performance and written art forms from Christchurch-based Pacific artists.

Exhibition events included an artist floor talk, poetry reading by Tusiata Avia, and theatrical performance by Pasifika collective YNOT.

Kā Huru Manu (26 January to 28 April 2019)

Compiled over ten years, Kā Huru Manu (The Ngāi Tahu Cultural Mapping Project) is dedicated to recording and mapping the traditional Māori place names and associated histories in the Ngāi Tahu rohe (tribal area).

This exhibition showcased six of the key maps for Ngāi Tahu place names within the Canterbury and Banks Peninsula region, including maps by Rāwiri Te Maire, Teone Taare Tikao, Tieke Pukurākau, and Hoani Te Hau Pere.

Unique artefacts were also showcased such as Canon James Stack’s original 1898 correspondence of Ngāi Tahu place names for Banks Peninsula and the original Tieke Pukurākau notebooks of place names within the Waitaki catchment.

We would like to acknowledge both Archives New Zealand and the Hocken Library for their support in loaning these items for the exhibition.

For more information, visit kahurumanu.co.nz, opens a new window

Our Painted Stories (Friday 12 October 2018 to Thursday 17 January 2019)

The Our Painted Stories exhibition explores the presence and importance of local Canterbury settings in children's books and celebrates the power of visual storytelling. Featuring original illustrations from books by Margaret Mahy and Gavin Bishop.

Created in partnership with the Painted Stories Trust.

Exhibition photos

View exhibition photos on Flickr