Julia Holden

Lyttelton Redux - Canterbury Museum

Lyttelton Redux was conceived primarily as a way to reconnect people with their town’s early history and to link the township's remaining buildings while Lyttelton is without its Museum after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake which also destroyed the majority of Lyttelton’s historic stone buildings.

.Working with Lyttelton Museum, Holden identified 23 historical figures who were connected to the town, from early settlers and land surveyors to a landscape artist and prominent suffragette. For each historic personage represented in the exhibition, Holden found a present-day local with a connection to them, through generational, occupational or personal relationships, to serve as the ‘living canvas’. Accompanying historical audio is complemented by recordings of the participating locals reflecting on their forebears. The portraits were originally hung in and around Lyttelton businesses and could be discovered via a Walking Tour, 2016 - 2017.

Portraits and their accompanying audio accessible here: https://izi.travel/en/7cf6-lyttelton-redux/en)

All 23 works are brought together for the first time in an exhibition hosted by Canterbury Museum 1 July - 23 October.

Lyttelton Redux exhibition was made possible with support from Creative New Zealand, Lyttelton Museum, Christchurch City Council, Nga Taonga Sound and Vision and Canterbury Museum. Most especially, I wish to thank the wonderful Lyttelton community for their engagement and enthusiastic involvement with the project.

Portraits are 50.5 x 63.1cm, archival pigment print, edition of 1/1.