Jenna Lee, challenging Captain Cook

‘He was not Australian, he would never have thought of himself as Australian and he didn’t particularly like Australia.’

Jenna Lee, Rite of Passage, Curated by Shannon Brett, QUT Art Museum. Image: Louis Lim

Graphic designer Jenna Lee, 27, is a Larrakia, Wardaman and Karajarri woman. She began making art as a form of self-care and is a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

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How can art be used for self-care?

I developed my art practice while working as a commercial graphic designer. I was working in the indigenous space and creating artworks and designs for corporate and government. It was wonderful work, but being mixed race, I found it very confronting. I was young and felt so out of place in these boardrooms. I was having to create artwork that represented our whole community. Often I would be the only indigenous person in the room. My first artwork, which was in the NATSIAA two years ago, was about the feeling of impostor syndrome. Once I got that work out of my system, I started speaking to other people in my same situation and realised I’m not the only who this happens to.

Why did you pull apart the Ladybird history book The Story of Captain Cook to make your entry for this year’s awards?

I had exhibited in a Queensland University of Technology exhibition called Rite of Passage focused on the 250-year anniversary of Cook’s arrival. I saw very little relevance for myself in the narrative of Captain Cook. It’s so strange that Australia has this symbol of national identity in a British man. He was not Australian, he would never have thought of himself as Australian and he didn’t particularly like Australia. For us to hook onto this person for national identity was really strange to me. What I wanted to do was deconstruct that idea of it being a story of national pride, when really it has very little to do with present Australia. I wanted to pull that apart and literally put it back together in a way that told a different story.

What was the process?

I taught myself how to make string out of paper so I can weave the book back together. I also used a pulping process where I made new paper with just the pages of the book. I also tried a collage where I hand-pasted the pieces of paper back together.

How do objects passed down through generations influence one’s identity?

When I was starting to make work, I hadn’t lived in the country for a long time, but I did when I was growing up. I spent four years of high school in Darwin. I started questioning the purpose of museums in helping people to connect with their identity when they’re not physically there. I was lucky enough to work at the Queensland Museum on a project and found that in their collection were objects from the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of the Darwin region. I was interested in how objects can help people of all cultures, who are not living directly connected with culture, to connect with their identity.

Was there anything that surprised you during your recent time immersed in Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum collection in Britain?

How little of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is on display. It just doesn’t seem to be of as much public interest as it is in Australia. For a country that has so much of our early collection, to have so little of it out for the public to see was quite strange. It made me think, why not give it back? But my experience with the Pitt Rivers was wonderful. For example, if I didn’t wish to wear gloves I didn’t have to, because they saw that as part of my cultural heritage. I did wear gloves, but the offer was there if I wanted to handle them with my bare hands.

The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) exhibition runs August 8, 2020 to 31 January 31, 2021 at MAGNT, Darwin. For further exhibition details: www.magnt.net.au/natsiaa