Chapter 8: Peter Young: The Filmmaker as Agent Provocateur

Our opening quote is taken from our interview with artist and filmmaker Peter Young. His film is a documentary, The Art of Recovery (Young, 2015), set in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand, in February 2011, and illustrates the struggle between grassroots citizens and government organizations as they battle to determine how the city should be rebuilt. Telling a story of residents taking control of their devastated city through artistic interventions, Young’s documentary exemplifies the impact of grassroots leadership utilizing the arts to fight for social change.

Having watched Young’s documentary, we were compelled to explore the motivations behind his artworks and we arranged an interview with him. Our chapter focuses firstly on Young’s career and his leading role in bringing his documentaries to completion. The second part of our chapter defines Young as a grassroots leader, describing his role in leading and his focus on social issues in settings that range from local to global communities. The final section analyses the key themes in The Art of Recovery. In this documentary Young shines his spotlight on the artists who, in collaboration with the grassroots organization, Gap Filler, fight for their rights to redesign the post-quake city. Young has given us permission to quote directly from the transcript of his documentary and we highlight the key themes including the value of collaboration, building connections, the acceptance of transition, and the importance of experimentation in the process of working for social change.