THE DIVIDING LINE exhibition at Tauranga Art Gallery, 2021

THE DIVIDING LINE

Created in Leipzig, Germany, between 2017 and 2019, The Dividing Line was first exhibited at Archiv Massiv Gallery, Leipzig, in 2018 before touring to public art galleries throughout New Zealand:

  • The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, Nelson (2019)

  • Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru (2019 - 2020)

  • Expressions Whirinaki Arts & Entertainment Centre, Upper Hutt (2020 - 2021)

  • Tauranga Art Gallery (2021)

    Click here to see the online catalogue of The Dividing Line


  • History is made by those who take action,     February 2019, Sarah McClintock, Curator, The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson, New Zealand

“The whole world is watching” was chanted as crowds of people took to the Hamilton rugby pitch on 25 July 1981 to protest the apartheid South Africa team’s tour of New Zealand. Eight years later “wir sind das Volk” (we are the people) was the rallying cry for over 70,000 people when they met on 9 October 1989 in Leipzig to protest the authoritarian East German government.

Culture is shaped by the moments we collectively stand up and show the world what we believe. It is never easy, in New Zealand the 1981 Springbok tour protest tore families apart and highlighted an unassailable generational rift - a dividing line. But this event, along with Parihaka, the 1975 Māori Land March and the anti-nuclear movement, has entrenched protest as an important part of our national identity and our history.

With The Dividing Line Lisa Chandler positions herself as a contemporary history painter. In the tradition of Jacques-Louis David’s Tennis Court Oath , Pablo Picasso’s Guernica and Norman Rockwell’s The Problem We All Live With , Chandler is looking closely at this moment in time, our political reality, and through painting makes us aware of this unique historical moment. For David it was the French Revolution, for Picasso it was the Spanish Civil War, for Rockwell it was the Civil Rights movement and for Chandler it is more complicated.
Read Sarah’s full essay here


Read the EyeContact review December 2019, Andrew Paul Wood, EyeContact, New Zealand

Read the review January 2019, Dr. Sara Tröster Klemm, Curator, Leipzig, Germany

Read the review December 2018, Daniel Thalheim, Art Historian, The Journal for Culture & Arts, Germany

”Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope”
Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

THE BYSTANDER, detail, 2018, 200 x 150cm, Acrylic on Linen

PROTESTORS, 2019, 70 x 100cm, Acrylic and Baking paper on Hahnemühle paper

LANGUAGE OF THE UNHEARD, 2017, 150 x 300cm, Acrylic on Linen

FLARES OF HOPE, 2018, 180 x 300cm, Acrylic on Linen

THE DIVIDING LINE exhibition at Archiv Massiv gallery, Leipzig, Germany 2019

FIVE MINUTES OF FAME, 2018, Acrylic on Linen, 200 x 150cm at Archiv Massiv gallery, Leipzig, Germany 2019

THE DIVIDING LINE, 2019, 27 framed works, assorted sizes, Acrylic and baking paper on Hahnemühle paper, at the Suter Art Gallery, Nelson, New Zealand 2019

Selected Visitor Comments

  • “Such a moving and powerful message. Gave me goosebumps and hope.” Sweden

  • “Power to the people. Please keep telling this important story.” USA

  • “Excellent and chilling. Very dark but necessary.” Scotland

  • “Amazingly moving, thought provoking and so true of our time. Great to have this reminder.” Nelson, New Zealand