The debut major solo exhibition of Jenna Mayilema Lee, a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman, and Karrajarri Saltwater woman of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Anglo-Australian ancestry
Spanning five years of practice, the exhibition brings together new and existing works that reflect Lee’s ongoing exploration of language, materiality and the transformation of inherited histories.
Grounded in the elemental forces that shape life in the tropical north, Of Smoke and Rain speaks to cycles of renewal and the power of transformation. The exhibition is anchored by a central immersive installation that evokes the dramatic shift brought by the first rains – breaking the tension of the build-up and marking a return to life. A second contrasting and connected body of work explores regeneration after fire, where gum leaves sprout from scorched earth and woven grass trees rise from the ashes.
Across the exhibition, Lee continues her deep engagement with archival texts known as ‘Aboriginal word dictionaries’, deconstructing and recontextualising them through laborious acts of weaving, pulping, cutting, altering, burning and reconstructing. These transformed materials, including raining clouds of dillybags and intricately crafted botanical forms, reframe language as a living ecosystem: able to thrive when nurtured and remembered.
Through these evocative and tactile works, Of Smoke and Rain honours the endurance of First Nations languages and offers space for new meanings to emerge, between words and through the seasons.
Presented by Northern Centre for Contemporary Art
You may also like the following events from Darwin Festival:
- Next month, 25th July, 10:00 am, DARWIN FESTIVAL: Artbroken in Darwin
- Next month, 28th July, 10:00 am, DARWIN FESTIVAL: 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Darwin
- This August, 1st August, 05:30 pm, DARWIN FESTIVAL: Paul Gurrumuruwuy | Milkum Ga Walŋa: Pattern, Camera, Life in Darwin
Also check out other
Arts events in Darwin,
Exhibitions in Darwin,
Festivals in Darwin.
