Alfred Lowe
Alfred Lowe is an Arrernte artist from Snake Well in the Central Desert, north of Mparntwe/Alice Springs, now based in Tarndanya/Adelaide. He works at the APY Studio Adelaide, operated by the APY Art Centre Collective.
Lowe’s practice focuses on ceramics and fibre sculpture, using materials to explore connections to Country and contemporary life. He hand builds forms using the coil method, creating organic vessels and figurative sculptures shaped by the textures and forms of the Central Desert landscape and applies underglazes and a range of mark-making to the surface. His woven fibre elements draw on traditional practices, adapted and expanded through a contemporary lens.
His interest in art began early. As a child, Lowe lived opposite the Araluen Arts and Cultural Precinct and was a neighbour of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. He remembers standing on tyres to watch Clifford painting in his yard. These early experiences, along with growing up in a region where cultural and political issues are deeply felt, continue to inform his practice.
In 2024, Lowe was awarded the Shelley Simpson Ceramics Prize by Mud Australia, and also won the MA Art Prize at Sydney Contemporary. He is currently a finalist in both the 2025 Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until 17 August and the 2025 Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery of South Australia until 31 August. His work has been included in group exhibitions at National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and JamFactory. His upcoming solo exhibition will be presented at Sabbia Gallery in Redfern, NSW from 6–27 September 2025.
In this video, Lowe speaks about how combining fibre with ceramics has brought a new sense of balance and play to his practice, as well as the environmental considerations involved in working with ceramic materials. He also reflects on the pressures of sustaining an arts practice, and how NAVA’s Code of Practice has helped remove the guesswork around pay rates and working conditions, particularly in the early stages of his career.
Video production by Atypical 2024.
Image: Alfred Lowe in the studio 2025, courtesy APY Art Centre Collective.
ID: A person with short curly hair and a dark blue shirt shapes a clay vessel at a workbench in a ceramics studio. Other vessels and ceramic artworks are visible around the space.
About NAVA
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is a Membership organisation that brings together the many voices of the contemporary arts sector to improve fundamental conditions of work and practice. We do this through advocacy, education and the Code of Practice. For further information on NAVA visit www.visualarts.net.au
