Forgotten Heritage

As many people know worldwide, Christchurch will never be the same following February 22, 2011. 30 seconds of terror caused the demise of a large part of the (already wounded) central city. Many more buildings have come down in the best interests of safety, and the demolition process will continue for many years.
Yesterday, I took a wander around the cordon that still surrounds some of the worst affected areas 20 months on, and against impossible odds, I managed to find something that made me smile.

Still attached to a corrugated iron wall on the corner of Tuam and Manchester Streets sat this amazing painted advertisement for a long defunct city decorating and signwriting firm.
Putting an age on this would be hard, but I'd estimate this wall painting was likely hidden from the world for 50 years or more, as the building that covered it up previously was old in it's own right.

About 18 months ago I read in a local interest magazine about Mark Spurgeon, a local Graphic designer in the city who was spending his spare time photographing and cataloging wall art and advertisements of this nature in both New Zealand and Australia. It noted the devastation he felt losing a number of works that he was aware of, but didn't get to photograph before the initial September 4, 2010 Quake. One can only imagine that the demolition process has returned the smile to his face.

A small collection of Mark Spurgeon's photography is online, www.preserve.co.nz