Biography

Kim Lowe is a New Zealand-based artist and printmaker. Throughout 2012-2013 she has co-ordinated the Shared Lines : Sendai-Christchurch Art Exchange, an artist led exchange that evolved following the natural disasters (earthquakes and tsunami) of 2011 that devastated both cities in New Zealand and Japan.
Lowe participated in Impact7 in Melbourne with an exhibition The Ghost and the Manaia. She completed a Masters of Fine Arts (Distinction) in Printmaking at Canterbury University (NZ) in 2009 and continues to practice from an abandoned house on the east side of Christchurch, an area that was severely damaged during the earthquakes.

Illustrated Talk

Shared Lines: Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange
Although the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake pales into insignificance when compared with events in Northern Japan, we can, however, note that in best of times, in capitalist societies, the arts are frequently pushed to the margins. In a natural disaster the arts community is among the most vulnerable, but being by nature entrepreneurial and adaptable, the arts are among the first things to spring back to kick-start the healing process. (Andrew Paul Wood)

The Sendai-Christchurch art exchange was initiated in early 2012 for artists from both cities to share their work and experiences following the Christchurch earthquake of 22/2/2011 and Tohuku earthquake and resulting tsunami of 11/3/2011.

The exhibited works are eclectic in subject and approach but are also a snapshot of what is happening two years on from a life-changing event. They demonstrate a little of the resilience, commonality and difference in approaches to artistic and cultural endeavor from both cities whilst lives, workplaces, communities are still in upheaval.
The presentation will feature an array of print related works, from traditional Japanese woodblocks; to NZ Arts Laureate Tony de Lautaur’s Unreal Estate, a public work satirising the city’s overinflated post-quake property market; and Audrey Baldwin’s Canker, represented by a still from a body politic performance where she licked her way out of a toffee structure. The resulting images had to be censored from the original Shared Lines exhibition in Japan not because of the nudity but because of the horrific memories the image evoked of someone being trapped under water.

Open Folio

Shared Lines: Sendai/Christchurch Art Exchange
The Sendai-Christchurch art exchange was initiated in early 2012 for artists from both cities to share their work and experiences following the Christchurch earthquake of 22/2/2011 and Tohuku earthquake and resulting tsunami of 11/3/2011. The selected works are eclectic in subject and approach but are also a snapshot of what is happening two years on from a life-changing event. They demonstrate a little of the resilience, commonality and difference in approaches to artistic and cultural endeavor from both cities whilst lives, workplaces, communities are still in upheaval.
The folio includes original relief and intaglio prints, digital prints and postcards.