New York artist Julia Rothman

Watching a film by Oliver Lucks, Julia Rothman was so impressed by his work she direct messaged to tell him so.

When she sent that email from her home in New York she had no idea two years later she would be sitting on the shores of a Dunedin beach enjoying an unseasonably warm summer while her friends and family were freezing back home.

It was 2021, the world was still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and Rothman was doing her bit to connect and encourage creatives of all sorts with messages of support.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air