Yellow House Sydney presents 'Spirit Level', an exhibition organised by local curator, Ewen McDonald, focusing on installations by two well respected New Zealand artists, Julia Morison and Doc Ross.

Official opening – Saturday 9 April, 5pm: by Sir Bob Parker KNZM

Preview – Saturday 9 April, 2–5pm: free event – keynote address by Sir Bob Parker KNZM 

Forum – Sunday 10 April, 3pm: Julia Morison, Doc Ross, Sir Bob Parker KNZM, moderated by Dr Katrina Simon, UNSW Australia

Both Christchurch-based, the artists' practices were fundamentally changed as a result of the catastrophic earthquakes that devastated the city and Canterbury region on 4 September 2010 and again on 22 February 2011.

Questioning the relevance of art in the midst of turmoil and hardship, both artists used the disruption to not only reinvent themselves but to find ways to encourage others to engage with and seek solace within powerfully evocative, experiential installations that encapsulated the realities of life in what remains still, a shattered and psychologically-broken place.

Julia Morison

As an experiential installation, Morison's 'Meet me on the other side' played an important role in the period after the second earthquake. A series of recently completed wall-based sculptures (2015-16) extends that project in 'Spirit Level'.

Doc Ross

As documents of a broken city, Doc Ross’s compelling, composite portrait sequences suggest an unfolding story from the time of the catastrophe to the present, with the most recent studies taken amidst a city in throes of development, reveal a changing city-scape where demolition slowly merges with reconstruction.