Amy Couling
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga exhibiting artist
Sedai (2019) glazed porcelain
_2019.jpg)
Shōwa Memoir (Pre-war) (2019) silk screenprint
Amy Couling is a New Zealand/Japanese visual artist from Ōtautahi Christchurch. She grew up as a bilingual, bicultural kid of Japan and New Zealand and she draws daily inspiration from her heritage.
Amy graduated with a degree in Japanese Language and Culture which included studying in Japan for a year on scholarship. She also lived abroad in Europe for a few years before returning to Christchurch to complete a degree in Applied Visual Art. Her art practice ranges from ceramics, illustration, painting, printmaking, public art and sculpture.
Amy strives to intertwine Western and Eastern themes into her work to promote diversity and mutual understanding between people of different cultures. She also wants to create more opportunities for New Zealand/Japanese representation in mainstream arts culture.
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga 2020
The Best of Both World's (2020) Gouache on paper
The Best of Both Worlds' is a gouache on paper work that shows the flora and fauna of New Zealand and Japan intertwining and meeting in the middle. The hana musubi (flower knot) in the middle symbolises our strong bonds and connections between both nations and how that relationship shall continue on into the future. It is also a visual representation of my upbringing in both countries.