Coined during the Civil Rights era and echoed through the Black Lives Matter movement, the call to “make good trouble” originated as a rallying cry for the kind of resistance that sparks transformation. It’s a phrase charged with urgency, imagination, and the belief that disruption can be a tool for change and a force for good. This exhibition expands the frame, inviting Canterbury artists to interpret what good trouble looks like to them. Across painting, sculpture, fashion, ceramics, graphic design, moving image and textile works, eleven artists respond to the call to “make good trouble”: some stirring gently; others shaking hard.
Their works interrogate toxic environments and the systems that keep us barely afloat; explore the unruly or elemental parts of the self; and convert adversity into agency. Others challenge purity rhetoric and the ideologies that police women’s bodies; counter the noise of consumer culture with quiet, intentional alternatives; or introduce a controlled sense of mischief, as domestic scenes hover on the edge of disorder.
Collectively, these artists provoke, unsettle, and reimagine. Their works demonstrate that trouble – when applied with purpose – can confront what is harmful and shift what is stagnant.
Artists include: C J Maglaqui, Gail Batchelor, Hamish Southcott, Jess Hall, John Clare, Katja Collins, Nina Cook, Rebecca McNab, Rose Alisha, Ruby McDermott, Verity Scarlett.
Hours: Wed-Thu: 11am-5pm | Fri-Sat: 10am-5pm
Eastside Gallery, Village Arts Centre, 388 Worcester St, Christchurch
