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