The following text was prepared by Tony Chamberlain, the Chair of the Exchange Christchurch Trust, for the XCHC Bar Opening.

The evening was an opportunity for XCHC to thank the large community of supporters including the residents, events organisers, project partners, board members and their friends and families.

Immaculate conception for me is about holding a concept for what you do immaculately. Business is hard, part of owning a business is about sticking to a resolve, and no matter who has ideas/opinions about my business, it is ultimately my ability to hold the concept with resolve.

Aliesha's passion for food comes from caring for the environment, she explains ‘there is a story behind every ingredient, I care about how it was created, who made it, and the energy embodied in each plate of food. I care about our environment, the choices we make every day and the impact that has on global culture.

When I create I like to show things different from what you see. There is always something immediate, but then I like to show what you don’t see. I often work with representation media, what is the point of just showing reality, we have eyes, so we already can see, when you work with this kind of media you look somewhere else, beyond what you see.

My field is the practice of critical thinking — I create different kinds of visual art or music to help with that thinking.

I’m a print-maker that works with textiles — I see paper and fabric being very similar, in that they have similar origins. I like to use thread and textile as the basis for my working drawings.