February 22nd 2016 marks five years since the 6.3 magnitude Earthquake that so dramatically and instantly changed the lives of Cantabrians. Each year on February 22 people of all ages are invited by The River of Flowers to visit selected sites along the Avon river to place flowers in the river. Its a beautiful time of community and individual reflection.
Today River of Flowers, Poetica, Flourish and The Canterbury Museum, under the vision of Michelle Whitaker, opened the Bloom Interactive Exhibition to mark the anniversary but to also celebrate all the writing that has come from the experiences of the Earthquakes. The poems by Canterbury children displayed are remarkably beautiful, the importance of the author's mothers are a central theme is very moving.
You are invited to visit the exhibition, view some samples of the writing, write some poetry and to make a paper flower to add to the river in the museum, as well as to attend the sites along the Avon on February 22nd. The Arts in all forms have been a hugely healing part of Christchurch's recovery.
The beautiful water colours by award winning illustrator Jenny Cooper from Maia and the Worry Bug and Wishes and Worries are displayed as part of Bloom. Julie Burgess-Manning and I are so honoured to be part of this event and we will be attending a reading session on February 21st. We'd love to have you in the audience.
I hope you can make some time to come into the museum during February and add you poems, flowers and hopes for the future to the interactive exhibition. There is a lot more than is shown in the pictures above but we wanted to leave some surprises.
All the books featured in the exhibition are available for sale in The Museum Gift shop.
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