studio catherine griffiths

»What is my threshold now?« archive of collected hair [artist’s own], steel box, light, shadows cast, numbered paper packets, exposed. (2024)

This photo-image work is an extension of »Self-preservation« (2022), #108 and archive of hair #001-142, one of 22 works presented in the vitrine component of Sophia Smolenski’s ‘Offering It Up’ (2023) at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery.

Made as a contribution to Manifesto vs Manifest, the first issue of PLATES, an editorial and curatorial response to contemporary design practice and criticism, curated and produced by Related Department and Gabriel Melcher, published by Page Bureau:

“Each issue dives into a specific topic that is pertinent to the design reality we live in, presented and archived in a series of image and textual plates in an organic, iterative and evolving format. In its first iteration, PLATES presents collective voices of practitioners situated along overlaps or cracks between disciplines to rethink the subject “Manifesto vs. Manifest” in relation to their practice through this iterative lens. The manifesto as a category of writing feels fixed and loaded, while contemporary design operates on txhe intersection of many manifestos, sensationalism in media, technological hype, identity, geopolitics, social activism, inclusivity and misalignment, alt texts, screenshots, fragmented truth, psychic readings on TikTok, and endless advertisements everyday everywhere. Iteration 1 manifests a version of each contributor and/or their practice in this convoluted and cacophonous context, shaped for any now or any future.” — Scarlett Meng, Gabriel Melcher

Iterations/Alterations, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, 2025 / photo: Jinki Cambronero

03 other in(ter)ventions

TypeSHED11
an international typography symposium, Wellington, NZ

typ gr ph c
a series of compact workshops, Karekare, NZ

installations, exhibitions

Catherine Griffiths: Walk With Me
Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, Auckland University of Technology, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa NZ

Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line
The Design Gallery, University of Melbourne, 2025, Australia

Iterations/Alterations
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, 2025, Aotearoa NZ

What is my threshold now?
Manifesto vs Manifest, PLATES #1, 2024, New York, USA

7/7, 14 views
Te Tuhi Project Wall, 2023, Aotearoa NZ

Self-preservation
Offering It Up, Adam Art Gallery, 2023, Aotearoa NZ

The Phone Book: Club de Conversation (2012): deconstructed (2019), suspended (2022)
Counterparts // Part one: Where To From Here?, No Vacancy, 2022, Naarm Melbourne AU

catherine griffiths : SOLO IN [ ] SPACE
The Space Gallery, 2019, Shanghai, CHINA

Work/Space
Shanghai Art and Design Exhibition, 2017, CHINA

A whakapapa, two lines of women, an installation drawing
All Lines Converge, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2016, Aotearoa NZ

Installation with mirror and line
transitionalfieldwork, an exhibition, 2016, Aotearoa NZ

only U know ...
collaboration, Lela Jacobs AW17 Auckland, and SS17 Paris collection, Aotearoa NZ + FR

Constructed/Projected
installation, Typojanchi 2015, 4th International Typography Biennale, Seoul, KR

The Tuwhare Poster Project
fund-raiser for the Hone Tuwhare Trust Writers Residency, Aotearoa NZ

memento :: motif
Proyecto de Arte Contemporáneo Alzheimer, Valparaíso, Chile

The Phone Book
a maquette, for the Club de Conversation project, Aotearoa NZ

Club de Conversation at S/F with Dino Chai, Auckland, Aotearoa NZ

Club de Conversation: Keyhole Series and Dials
rug series, Dilana Workshop, Aotearoa NZ

Sound Tracks
installation, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Aotearoa NZ

The Jets
short film, Paris, France

posters, protest, statements

The Best Design Awards
three posters, 2018, Aotearoa NZ

Labour of Love
another word-play poster, 2018, Aotearoa NZ

W in black
drawings in progress, 2017, Aotearoa NZ/FR

The Alphabet
front page takeover of the Sentinel & Enterprise newspaper for 26 days, Fitchburg, USA

The Brexit Series
a word-play poster series in response to Brexit, Aotearoa NZ

Raising the Flag
contemplative, suggestive — design unravelled, Aotearoa NZ

Protest Vessel 1/2 PRICE
a collaboration with ceramic artist Raewyn Atkinson, Aotearoa NZ

What is my threshold now?

Manifesto vs Manifest, PLATES #1, 2024, New York, USA

Originally made as a contribution to Manifesto vs Manifest, the first issue of PLATES, an editorial and curatorial response to contemporary design practice and criticism, curated and produced by Related Department and Gabriel Melcher, published by Page Bureau (2024).

Lithograph, Hahnemühle Copperplate 300gsm, 560 x 760mm (unframed), edition of 10 (2025).

Printer: John Putaseri, APS