BALARR, Melbourne Now / NGV

Jenna Lee is a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and Karajarri Saltwater woman with Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Anglo-Australian ancestry. Working across sculpture, installation and body adornment, Lee uses her art practice to explore these overlapping identities.

Lee took part in a paper lantern-making workshop with one of Kyoto’s leading makers of traditional Kyoto-style lanterns. It was here that the beginnings of Balarr (To become light), 2023, were born. The work is a cross-cultural collaboration that sees traditional Gulumerridjin dilly bags and Kyoto-style paper lanterns coalesce in a series of illuminated lanterns.

Constructed from a combination of washi paper and bamboo, the lanterns are resolved with handmade, hand-woven paper string and adorned with lines, symbols and words painted with Gulumerridjin ochres and Japanese Nikawa binder. These represent contrasting notions of light and void; bright and dark; and day and night, and aim to embody the three translations of the Gulumerridjin word Balarr: to make light, become light, and dawn.

Installation illuminated by ILANEL