Catherine Griffiths, GAZ/A, 2025 (detail), inkjet print on concertina folded paper, brass, 3.2m x 200mm
Photo Credit
Event Details
ngutukaka.aut.ac.nzPlease join us this Thursday for a conversation between Catherine Griffiths and Fiona Jack, artist and current Head of School at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau.
Over the years, both practitioners have engaged in various forms of activism within their respective practices. Jack has produced banners and flags, led parades, and facilitated various expressions of protest, such as gathering, organising, and collaborating with the public to examine the disparities and injustices that continue to impact societies and communities. Jack’s banners symbolise modes of collective expression and reflect her longstanding interest in drawing attention to political histories.
Similarly, Griffiths has long employed typography and design for social and political commentary, often in the guise of type-specimen posters, publishing, and initiating community projects. Within the design field, she has been vocal about the underrepresentation of women in Aotearoa’s most prestigious design awards, and has actively facilitated alternative sites for discourse, including the inaugural Designers Speak lunchtime series (2005), and international typography symposium, TypeSHED11 (2009). She founded the platform Designers Speak (Up), which led to the Directory of Women* Designers, and curated/led the 2019 poster and hīkoi project, Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa, later published in 2023.
Speaking in the vicinity of Griffiths' recently launched exhibition, Walk With Me, this conversation will explore how activism has materialised in their respective practices, and what it means to be a maker in Aotearoa in times of global unrest.
Please RSVP as seating is limited:
ngutukaka@aut.ac.nz
Price
- Free - RSVP
Date
- Thu 07 Aug
Time
- 5:30 pm — 6:30 pm
Address
- 40 Saint Paul Street
- AUT City Campus
- Tamaki Makaurau 1010
Please join us this Thursday for a conversation between Catherine Griffiths and Fiona Jack, artist and current Head of School at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau.
Over the years, both practitioners have engaged in various forms of activism within their respective practices. Jack has produced banners and flags, led parades, and facilitated various expressions of protest, such as gathering, organising, and collaborating with the public to examine the disparities and injustices that continue to impact societies and communities. Jack’s banners symbolise modes of collective expression and reflect her longstanding interest in drawing attention to political histories.
Similarly, Griffiths has long employed typography and design for social and political commentary, often in the guise of type-specimen posters, publishing, and initiating community projects. Within the design field, she has been vocal about the underrepresentation of women in Aotearoa’s most prestigious design awards, and has actively facilitated alternative sites for discourse, including the inaugural Designers Speak lunchtime series (2005), and international typography symposium, TypeSHED11 (2009). She founded the platform Designers Speak (Up), which led to the Directory of Women* Designers, and curated/led the 2019 poster and hīkoi project, Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa, later published in 2023.
Speaking in the vicinity of Griffiths' recently launched exhibition, Walk With Me, this conversation will explore how activism has materialised in their respective practices, and what it means to be a maker in Aotearoa in times of global unrest.
Please RSVP as seating is limited:
ngutukaka@aut.ac.nz
