About lisa

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Lisa Chandler is a New Zealand artist whose work explores how people and places are transformed by the forces of history, environment and social change. She creates layered narratives that examine memory, belonging and the traces people leave behind, drawing on themes of loss, hope and resilience.

Chandler's practice is grounded in close observation of contemporary life. She is interested in the ways social, political and environmental events shape the lives of individuals and communities. Over the past decade her work has investigated issues including gentrification, migration, social and economic inequality, climate change and the Covid pandemic. While these subjects often emerge from specific places and moments in time, they also speak to broader questions about how communities respond to change.

Painting remains at the heart of Chandler's practice. She develops images through a process of layering, erasure and reconstruction, with urban structures, landscapes and figures appearing and disappearing within richly worked surfaces. Her working methods respond directly to the subject matter, with fluid washes, layered surfaces and fragmented imagery becoming visual metaphors for the forces shaping people and place. Alongside large-scale paintings, Chandler produces works on paper often incorporating collage and printmaking techniques.

Recent projects include The Dividing Line, Landscapes of Loss, and What Remains. Through her practice, Chandler seeks to create spaces for reflection, exploring what is lost, what endures and how communities find hope and connection in times of change.

BIOGRAPHY

Lisa Chandler is a New Zealand artist whose large-scale paintings, works on paper and exhibition projects explore how people and places are transformed by the forces of history, environment and social change. Working across painting, printmaking and collage, she examines memory, belonging and the traces people leave behind.

Long-term research and sustained studio practice underpin many of Chandler's projects, culminating in major public art gallery exhibitions that connect personal stories with broader social and environmental narratives.

Chandler holds an MFA (Hons) from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, Auckland. Since 2012 she has presented numerous solo exhibitions and exhibited throughout New Zealand and internationally in Singapore, China and Germany. International residencies in Singapore, Beijing and Leipzig have played a significant role in shaping her practice.

Major projects include The Dividing Line, developed while based at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei art hub in Germany, and the subsequent exhibitions Landscapes of Loss and What Remains, which explore personal, community and environmental loss. Her current project, The Tide, is a collaboration with writer Helen E. Crampton examining relationships between people, places and changing coastal environments.

SELECTED CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Public Art Gallery exhibitions

  • What Remains, The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson (2025)

  • Landscapes of Loss, Hastings Art Gallery and Aratoi Museum of Art & History, Wairarapa (2022 - 2024)

  • The Dividing Line, touring exhibition at The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson; Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru; Whirinaki, Upper Hutt and Toi Tauranga Art Gallery (2019 - 2021)

  • Millennium Public Art Gallery, Blenheim (2016)

International Experience

  • The Tanks Art Centre Artist Residency, Cairns, Australia (2025)

  • Permanent studio at Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Germany (2016 - 2019)

  • Leipzig International Art Programme residency, Germany (2016)

  • Selected for the 26th Leipziger Jahrestagsausstellung exhibition, Germany (2019)

  • Selected for the International Art Survey exhibition, Beijing, China (2014)

  • Red Gate Residency, Beijing, China (2014)

  • Instinc Residency, Singapore, supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation (2013)

  • Affective Landscapes Conference, University of Derby, England. Presented a paper on ‘Non-Places’ (2012)

Awards

  • New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award finalist (2015, 2018)

  • National Contemporary Art Award finalist (2015)

  • Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award finalist (2012, 2014, 2015)

Reviews & Publications

  • Steve Austin, Art New Zealand, No. 198, review of What Remains (2026)

  • Andrew Paul Wood, EyeContact, review of The Dividing Line (2019)

View my full CV here

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Faceless, protest masks, contemporary painting

THE FACELESS, 2018, set of 150 canvas boards, 24 x 18cm each, part of The Dividing Line series