A Christchurch man caught the moment when the Christ Church Cathedral crumbled on February 22.

Andrew Hewson, 24, was in an art studio he shared with his brother, Michael, and other artists on the sixth floor of the Tower Building in Cathedral Square when the earthquake struck.

He grabbed his camera and took pictures of dust clouds engulfing the Square and police kiosk.

As Andrew Hewson captured the images, Michael Hewson, 26, was on the corner of Hereford St and Colombo St on his way back to the studio. He was sure the Tower Building had come down.

"As soon as the dust cloud went, it [Tower Building] was still there...so all good,'' he said as he returned to Cathedral Square yesterday.

Andrew Hewson has since moved to the United States to film a documentary, and  Michael, an engineer and artist, has gone to Australia where, next week, he will host an exhibition inspired by the Christchurch earthquake.

He now lives in Port Hedland, north of Perth, and is in Christchurch to retrieve his work.

His exhibition titled Under Standing Loss features oil canvasses, sketches and a shot he took on his iPhone when he first got back into the Tower Building studio about two weeks after the quake, showing a work area torn apart.

"Not a day goes by when I don't think of what life was like here, like everyone I guess,'' Michael Hewson said.

"This is my way of processing these thoughts, and moving on from it. It's gonna be closure for me.''

- © Fairfax NZ News

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