Review on Canterbury Earthquake Exhibition

One of the key findings that catered the needs of a diverse audience is assemble of colours. Colour is a critical form of non verbal communication. The colours of black, white, orange, yellow and red are frequently and widely seen in The Canterbury Earthquake Exhibition at Canterbury Museum. This form of non-verbal communication conveys various information to different groups of audiences and hence, various groups of audiences have different perspectives in receiving and interpreting information.

The colour of red appeared mostly in cultural and Technical information. For example, there was a whit board across the exhibition wall and it displays visitors' hand written appreciation and gratitude towards people who helped during the rescue of the earthquake, and rebuilding of Christchurch. The colour of red indicates life, vitality, purity and attracts audiences in first attention. Languages from across the world such as Chinese, Korean, French, English and Japanese conveys the idea that Red is also acting as a resemblance of power, assembling everyone's strength and deliver gratitude towards rescuers and helpers. Red creates feelings of excitement and intensity and it is mostly seen on a long rectangular fabric which is stitched by groups from all over New Zealand, Australia, Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Pacific. These stitching groups have amassed over 4000 lovingly crafted hearts to form the ‘Hearts for Christchurch'. This illustrates the essence of life and living with emphasis on survival. The colour of red indicates the strength summoned by all the continents, and they shows their concern, sympathy and caring by stitching red shaped hearts towards Christchurch. One of the slide shows displayed rescuer teams from various countries which offered help during the February earthquake. The rescue team from Japan wore red suits and it symbolises danger, courage, passion and most of all the determination to rescue more survivals. A message down the bottom of the Police Communications Recordings from the New Zealand Police (social information) in bold warns visitors the recordings may upset some people. Furthermore, this colour emphasis on protection from fears and anxieties visitors may encounter. Big headings for all sort of information are presented with red background with white handwriting. For example, technical