studio catherine griffiths

THEN IT’S WELLINGTON WE’RE COMING TO!
IT’S TIME, SHE SAYS, IT’S TIME SURELY
FOR US TO CHANGE LANES, CHANGE TONGUES,

THEY SPEAK SO DIFFERENTLY DOWN HERE.

Driving South with Lucy from the Big Blue Hills / Vincent O’Sullivan

THE HARBOUR IS AN IRONING BOARD:
FLAT-IRON TUGS DASH SMOOTHING TOWARD
ANY SHIRT OF A SHIP, ANY PILLOWSLIP
OF A FREIGHTER THEY DECREE
MUST BE IRONED FLAT AS WASHING FROM THE SEA.

Wellington Harbour is a Laundry / Denis Glover

IT’S TRUE YOU CAN’T LIVE HERE BY CHANCE, YOU HAVE TO DO AND BE, NOT SIMPLY WATCH OR EVEN DESCRIBE. THIS IS THE CITY OF ACTION, THE WORLD HEADQUARTERS OF THE VERB—

The Active Voice / Lauris Edmond

I ASK NOT ONLY THAT MY CITY,
BUT ALL, GIVE THEMSELVES
TO THE ESSENCE OF OUR CULT—
THE RITUAL ASSEMBLY OF AN
INTERESTED COTERIE IN A SPACE
WHERE MAGIC CAN BE MADE
AND MIRACLES OCCUR.

Theatre in 1981: Omens and Portents / Bruce Mason

I LIVE AT THE EDGE
OF THE UNIVERSE,
LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

Milky Way Bar / Bill Manhire

01 typography in the landscape

Light Weight O
O’Connell Street, Auckland, NZ
2012 / installed 2018

Kihi/Kiss
Wellington Airport domestic terminal, NZ
2015 / installation tba

Collidescape
Te Kei, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ
2016

Zion Hill Park
Auckland, NZ
2014 construction 2015/16

Fifth Movement
Takapuna Beach House, NZ
2012

The Trestle Leg Series
Auckland Harbour Bridge, NZ
2012

A Hillside Intervention Athfield Architects, Wellington, NZ
2011/12

AEIOU
A typo/sound sculpture, Wellington, NZ
2009

Wellington Writers Walk
A series of 15 concrete text sculptures, Wellington, NZ
2002 and 2004

Ponatahi House
A house wrapped in literature, Wairarapa, NZ
2003

Distance Markers
A series of cast-iron, number discs, Wellington, NZ
2004

Wellington Writers Walk

2002 and 2004

Commissioned by the New Zealand Society of Authors

15 large-scale, three dimensional concrete text sculptures honouring
writers and poets who have strong connections with Wellington, sited
unexpectedly along the cityʼs urban waterfront – floating, suspended,
wedged in, lying on rocks as if washed up by the sea.

15 text sculptures varying in dimensions from 1 x 1m – 1.2 x 2.4m

related reading

Writing by Types
Life in Italics