Kerry Ann Lee's art and design practice is rooted in her experience of being a New Zealander of Chinese descent, and frequently explores these cultural intersections.[1] This includes topics such as Chinese settlement in the 19th century, particularly the establishment of Chinatowns[1] and Cantonese urban diaspora communities in New Zealand.[2] Lee is also known for her independent publishing work, especially zines, including Help, My Snowman’s Burning, Celebretard and Permanent Vacation.[3] Her practice frequently employs collage.[4] Lee has undertaken international residencies in China, Taiwan, US, Mexico and Australia and exhibits regularly in New Zealand.[5] Lee's 2017 solo exhibition, Fruits in the Backwater at Pātaka Art + Museum explores notions of identity and place,[6] with juxtaposition of Chinese and New Zealand cultural signifiers a central theme. In December 2018, her installation Return to Skyland opened within the Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality exhibition at Te Papa.[7]
Lee holds a master's degree from Massey University, with a thesis on the settlement of Chinese in New Zealand, through which she "interrogates the transformation of Cantonese settlers into Chinese New Zealanders through illustration design".[8]
Career
Lee held a senior lecturer and researcher position at Otago Polytechnic School of Design[1] and is currently a senior lecturer at Massey University College of Creative Arts.[9]
Lee has held artist-in-residence positions at island6 Art Centre, Shanghai (September 2009),[10] and Visible City, a collaborative live art project hosted by the City of Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival (October 2010).[1]
Lee was the creative director of the Asian Aotearoa Arts Huì (AAAH2018), a public festival and national gathering that celebrated "diverse expressions of ‘Asianness’ in Aotearoa in the Arts."[11]
Life
Lee is a third-generation Chinese New Zealander; her forebears arrived in Otago, New Zealand in the 1930s.[12] She was born in Wellington, where her family has lived since the late 1940s; her parents ran the Gold Coin Cafe at 296 Willis Street from 1978 to 1986.[12][13] The cafe was referenced in her installation The Unavailable Memory of Gold Coin Cafe, at Enjoy Gallery in 2013 and Pātaka Art + Museum in 2015.[12]
Lee studied design in Wellington.[12] She received a Master of Design (MDes) from Massey University, where her thesis project was the book Home Made: Picturing Chinese Settlement in New Zealand.[14]
Lee is a DJ under the alias Croque Madame.[15] She is also known for her interest in punk music[4] and work with self-published fanzines.[10]
Awards
2014: RATA Award for Excellence in Teaching, Massey University, College of Creative Arts.[16]
2012: Otago Polytechnic Inspiring Research Award.[16]
2007: Asia New Zealand Emerging Researcher Award.[1]
