David Cook: Meet Me in the Square

Save to My Gallery

David Cook Christchurch 1983 (detail). Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983 (detail). Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1983. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1984. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

David Cook Christchurch 1984. Photograph. Reproduced courtesy of the artist

This exhibition is now closed

Cathedral Square, Centennial Pool, Lancaster Park, schoolboys, punks, nuns – a photographic journey through 1980s Christchurch.

Where were you in 1980s Christchurch? (Or if you weren't born yet, where was your Mum?) Dishing out generous servings of nostalgia and retro, Meet Me in the Square shows central Christchurch as we'll never see it again. As a student then graduate of the University of Canterbury's School of Fine Arts in the 1980s, David Cook wandered the streets at all times of day and night, finding new vantage points, meeting strangers. The camera was his licence to explore. Part anthropologist, part cultural commentator, he captured bell-ringers and boot boys, beery crowds, nuns, mums with prams, 'the seagull man' and royal watchers – and in doing so, created a body of work that continues to resonate.

Date:
31 January – 24 May 2015
Curator:
Ken Hall
Exhibition number:
978

Collection works in this exhibition

20 items

Woman and Queen, Chancery Arcade

David Cook

University Capping Day Parade Cathedral Square

David Cook

Town Hall Fountain

David Cook

Statue of J. R. Godley, Founder of Canterbury, Cathedral Square

David Cook

Newspaper Seller, Hereford Street

David Cook

International Day For Nuclear Disarmament, Cathedral Square

David Cook

Graduates At The Old University (Arts Centre)

David Cook

Funeral In The Cathedral

David Cook

DIC Beaths Winter Fashion Parade

David Cook

Cathedral Square

David Cook

Chancery Arcade, Christchurch

David Cook

Armagh Street, Christchurch

David Cook

Cathedral plane trees, Christchurch

David Cook

Kiwi Bacon, Christchurch

David Cook

Community of the Sacred Name, Christchurch

David Cook

Cathedral Square bus stop, Christchurch

David Cook

New Zealand vs British Lions, Lancaster Park, Christchurch

David Cook

Punks go on rampage in city, Christchurch

David Cook

Novice Rosemary, Community of the Sacred Name, Christchurch

David Cook

After The Game

David Cook

Related reading: David Cook, Outer Spaces, exhibition-978

Exhibition

Downtown Christchurch: Photographs by David Cook

4 August – 31 August 1986

Interview

The significance of everyday things

During the winter of 1984 my mother, father and I packed an overnight bag and climbed into Dad’s Hillman Hunter. I was five years old and, as far as I could remember, it was the first time we’d ever ventured outside of Blenheim.

Continued

Article

Meet Me in the Square

The first thing you notice, even before the pageboy haircuts and oversized plastic spectacles, is the absence of smiles. The unhappiness in the eyes of the average Cantabrian snapped on these grey, chilly streets seems palpable. Even the Christ's College cadet, cradling a rifle as part of soldiery drill, looks ready to turn the gun on himself. In 1983, the year when David Cook began a project to explore his hometown, a camera as his compass, most locals look distinctly brassed off.

Continued

Notes

Triple whammy

We were delighted to pick up three wins at the Museums Australia Publication and Design Awards 2015 (MAPDAs) in Sydney on Friday night.

Notes

Spotting Dad

When Caroline first found out about the David Cook: Meet Me in the Square exhibition through the Gallery's Facebook page before it opened, she had an inkling that she might see her father in the show.

Notes

A stroll down memory lane. . .

Karen Cunningham found out her photo was in the David Cook: Meet Me in the Square exhibition when a resident at Edith Cavell Home and Hospital brought it to her attention during a weekly game of housie.

Notes

Catch the Bus Into Town

Megan made a special trip to the David Cook: Meet Me in the Square exhibition last week after seeing a photograph in The Press of her and her friend at the Cathedral Square bus stop, taken in 1984.

Notes

Sisters Growing Up in Christchurch

Since the exhibition David Cook: Meet Me in the Square opened at 209 Tuam Street, the Gallery's Visitor Hosts have spoken to several people who either appear in the photographs themselves or have a personal story to share about a particular photograph in the show.

B.