1941, Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Colegio San Silvestre, Miraflores (1947-1958). Fine arts studies in artist’s studios and art schools in Lima, Peru (The Art Center (1951-1957), La Escuela de Bellas Artes (1957-1958) then in London (Regent Street Polytechnic (1960-1962), Chelsea School of Art (1962-1964). Artistic practice while working as an editor in the film industry (London 1964-1972).
From 1977 onwards Lowder worked on the visual aspect of the cinematographic process and, invited by Jean Rouch and his department at the Université Paris X, presented a part of her research for a Phd. entitled Le film expérimental en tant qu'instrument de recherche visuelle/Experimental film, a tool for visual research (1987).
Active since 1977 programming rarely shown films, co-founder of the Archives du film expérimental d’Avignon (AFEA, 1981) with the aim of acquiring 16mm films and paper documents, as well as to publish several books _ La part du visuel, films expérimentaux canadiens/ The Visual Aspect, Canadian expérimental films (AFEA, 1991), L’Image en mouvement (AFEA, 2002), Images / discours (AFEA, 2006) _ so as to render those works more accessible to a general public.
Associate professor (practice, history, theory and aesthetics), at the Université de Paris I (1996-2005).
In focussing her research on visual perception in relation to the cinematographic means of expression, Lowder concentrated on the different ways one can modify the graphic and photographic visual features of the image as it transforms in time. This work led her to compose the image in the camera, usually by interweaving the frames as the film strip passes the lens several times. This way of working is relatively meticulous and complex as it means recording a succession of images, frame by frame, in the camera, so that they appear simultaneously when seen projected on the screen.
