Town Square Vitrines
Three vitrines, located in the urban tropical oasis of Town Square, host an annual program of six artists exploring different mediums, cultures and expressions. Workshops, In Conversations and Tours are programmed for each exhibit. Keep up to date through our newsletter.
Currently on display are installations by Jenna Lee, Growth after the Fire 2025
Jenna Lee is a First Nations Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and KarraJarri Saltwater woman with mixed Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Anglo-Australian (Irish and Scottish) ancestry.
Driven to create work that transforms the scars of colonialism, Lee builds on a foundation of her father’s staunch teachings of culture and her mother’s gentle teachings of paper craft.
This collection of works explores the transformation and reclamation of language and the power of fire as a healing practice for the Gulumerridjin (Larrakia) people.
As part of her ongoing practice of dealing with legacies of colonial linguicide, Jenna Lee has transformed multiple pages from Aboriginal Words and Place Names, a widely published book that presents First Nations words without any connection to people or place. In this context, her actions, many of which involve fire, become tools of rejuvenation and rebirth, breathing new life into the previously dislocated words embedded on the page.
The small installation pigment jars contain the burnt remnants of this flawed book transmuted into pigment, offering a new means of writing language. Each jar is labelled with the Gulumerridjin word for fire, ‘Guyu-Gwa.’ This repetitive gesture situates the word within its cultural context and serves as a personal ritual for relearning language. Each letter, punched onto a label, embeds the word into memory in an ongoing journey of linguistic reclamation.
In a series of text and burn works on paper, Lee has burnt Gulumerridjin words relating to fire and place into the pages of the book as well as removed the unprovenanced words, a gesture to return those words to their respective Countries through the smoke emitted. The only worlds left remaining are to do with the labeling and description of ancestral material culture.
In a new work, Lose Leaf (litter) looks to the fuel for bush fires – the build up of highly combustible Eucalyptus leaf littler. Pages cut into the shapes of leaves of the Darwin Woolybutt, depicted not only for its connection to Gulumerridjin country, but also its multi use functionality. Leaves are scattered and fallen branches lay ready to combust.
This installation was curated by Aboriginal Art Co. Monthly walking art tours of Fish Lane are delivered by Aboriginal Art Co.
