studio catherine griffiths

photographs: Ingrid Rhule

For four decades, Catherine Griffiths, designer and artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, has attentively examined the potentials of language, materiality and drawing in space. Her work operates at the nexus of an expanded, socially engaged, interdisciplinary practice founded in graphic design, with a focus on typography, sculptural form, and public art.

Griffiths reconfigures typographic context and meaning through shifts in scale and the immersive experience, transforming how we perceive and interact with language, from the concrete to the abstract.

Throughout her career, Griffiths has used language, light and sound as both a material and conceptual force. Through typographic installations, time-based media, and site-specific interventions, Griffiths encourages the viewer to read between the lines, engage in spatial dialogues and consider the alternative.

Featuring a commissioned site-specific installation, this exhibition offers a unique chance to experience the provocations and physical qualities of Griffiths’ practice, where form and materiality are at once visible and tactile.

The largest exhibition of Griffiths’ work presented in Australia to-date, Out of Line invites the viewer to read and interpret the assemblage of works presented.

Presented by the Melbourne School of Design, with the support of the Melbourne Art Book Fair and the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne. Curated by Ela Egidy and Megan Patty.

exhibition poster [verso] / design: Zenobia Ahmed

03 other in(ter)ventions

TypeSHED11
an international typography symposium, Wellington, NZ

typ gr ph c
a series of compact workshops, Karekare, NZ

installations, exhibitions

Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line
Griffith University Art Museum, Meanjin Brisbane, Australia
24 February — 16 May 2026

Catherine Griffiths: Walk With Me
Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, Auckland University of Technology, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa NZ
30 July — 24 October 2025

Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line
The Design Gallery, University of Melbourne, Naarm, Australia
19 May — 27 June 2025

Iterations/Alterations
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Chapter 1, Aotearoa NZ
15 February — 29 March 2025 [extended to Chapter 2]

What is my threshold now?
Manifesto vs Manifest, PLATES #1, 2024, New York, USA

7/7, 14 views
Te Tuhi Project Wall, Aotearoa NZ
20 August – 22 October 2023

Self-preservation
Offering It Up, Adam Art Gallery, Aotearoa NZ
24 August — 29 October 2023

The Phone Book: Club de Conversation (2012): deconstructed (2019), suspended (2022)
Counterparts // Part one: Where To From Here?, No Vacancy, Naarm Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
12 – 31 July 2022

catherine griffiths : SOLO IN [ ] SPACE
The Space Gallery, Shanghai, CHINA
13 October – 1 December 2019

Work/Space
Shanghai Art and Design Exhibition, CHINA
3 – 13 December 2017

A whakapapa, two lines of women, an installation drawing
All Lines Converge, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Aotearoa NZ
2016

Installation with mirror and line
transitionalfieldwork, an exhibition, Aotearoa NZ
2016

only U know ...
collaboration, Lela Jacobs AW17 Auckland, and SS17 Paris collection, Aotearoa NZ + FR

Constructed/Projected
installation, Typojanchi 2015, 4th International Typography Biennale, Seoul, KR
November 2015

The Tuwhare Poster Project
fund-raiser for the Hone Tuwhare Trust Writers Residency, Aotearoa NZ
2014

memento :: motif
Proyecto de Arte Contemporáneo Alzheimer, Valparaíso, Chile
23 September — 23 August 2012

The Phone Book
a maquette, for the Club de Conversation project, Aotearoa NZ
2012

Club de Conversation at S/F with Dino Chai, Auckland, Aotearoa NZ
14 July – 18 August 2012

Club de Conversation: Keyhole Series and Dials
rug series, Dilana Workshop, Aotearoa NZ
June — July 2012

Sound Tracks
installation, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Aotearoa NZ
2011

The Jets
short film, Paris, France
2010

posters, protest, statements

SHREDDED
[LUXON QUOTES] RUBBISH COLLECTION, six [type specimen] posters, 2026, Aotearoa NZ

The Best Design Awards
three [type specimen] posters, 2018, Aotearoa NZ

Labour of Love
another word-play poster, 2018, Aotearoa NZ

W in black
drawings in progress, 2017, Aotearoa NZ/FR

The Alphabet
front page takeover of the Sentinel & Enterprise newspaper for 26 days, Fitchburg, USA

The Brexit Series
a word-play [type specimen] poster series in response to Brexit, Aotearoa NZ

Raising the Flag
contemplative, suggestive — design unravelled, Aotearoa NZ

Protest Vessel 1/2 PRICE
a collaboration with ceramic artist Raewyn Atkinson, Aotearoa NZ

Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line

Solo exhibition, The Design Gallery, University of Melbourne, Naarm, Australia, 19 — 6 June 2025

Curated by Ela Egidy and Megan Patty, »Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line« is presented by the Melbourne School of Design, with the support of the Melbourne Art Book Fair and the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne.

The Design Gallery (formerly the Dulux Gallery), Ground Floor, Glyn Davis Building (133), University of Mebourne, Parkville

Curators: Ela Egidy, Megan Patty
Exhibitions Manager: Philippa Knack
Engagement & Partnerships Manager: Amy Bugeja
Multimedia Manager: Jordan Kaye Senior Exhibitions Officer: Jet Bakker
Exhibitions Officer: Sizhen Wong
Designer: Zenobia Ahmed
Typeface: RJ Sancha by Robert Janes
Editor: Kelsey Oldham