about

Garage Collective was set up in my garage in Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand around August 2007, with the explicit intention of avoiding the design and advertising  industry. The initial phase of my practice was to design and screenprint hand crafted posters from my garage—mainly gigposters and political posters. However, a growing interest in non-hierarchal, social justice politics meant a revaluation of the direction of Garage Collective took place in 2009. I found that I was no longer concerned with the visual language of subcultures, whether it be musical or artistic —but with using cultural work and creative processes as a framework for social change.

I still print the odd political poster when I can and hope to do more when time permits (although I'm not sure my work is any good). However, design projects for the Labour History Project has meant a lot of my time is spent on research in the labour history field; specifically anarchist and syndicalist currents. In mid-2011 my first attempt at such research was published by Rebel Press, and in late-2011 I was lucky enough to receive a grant from the Institute for Anarchist Studies to further my research on Philip Josephs, the Freedom Group, and early anarchism in New Zealand. This is due to be published by AK Press in 2013: Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism.

The purpose of this site is to bring together past and current works, act as a space for blogging things that interest me and post updates on my research (for anyone who is mildly interested!) When I'm not doing the above my time is spent working as an archivist, trying to be a dad, and community projects. Check out the links page for organisations I am a member of, and for websites more interesting than this one.