Project 2020, Auckland Art Fair 2020
Curated by Micheal Do and presented as virtual Art Fair due to COVID lockdown in Aotearoa.
https://artfair.co.nz/projects/rozana-lee/
https://artfair.co.nz/artwork/rozana-lee/
https://artfair.co.nz/artwork/a-round-table-discussion/
Excerpt of interview with Big Idea:
"For the past couple months leading to the unprecedented lockdown, I had been working on an Auckland Art Fair 2020 project. I made colourful Batik fabrics to form installation work. This gives me the freedom to hang the fabrics from the ceiling, draped across free-standing frames or spread out on the floor. My chosen method of drawing using a Tjanting, a traditional pen-like tool for applying hot wax onto the fabric speaks about my Indonesian cultural heritage.
My process, however, has been slightly altered to suit my research and exploration. In the past, ornamental patterns described a tribe to itself or to other tribes. They now tell a story of my navigations across and between cultures. My practice looks at my personal relation to (South-East) Asia, its connection to Aotearoa, and the social, political, and material histories connecting these countries together.
On what inspires me everyday, especially during lockdown:
Old family photos:
My grandfather and my father jointly owned a textile shop in Aceh, Indonesia. We lived above it, on the second storey. My mother, who was trained as a seamstress helped at the shop. Textiles are among my earliest memories. Seeing textiles and playing with various patterns, textures, and colour everyday throughout my childhood trained my eyes and hands in its appreciation. Textiles connect me to my past, my whakapapa, and is most likely why they have been present in my works. In 2004, my parents’ shophouse was destroyed by the Boxing day tsunami. The catastrophe killed over 170,000 in my hometown. This included my mother. Right after that, their ravaged shophouse was looted. Everything of value was taken. All that remained was destruction. We were considered outsiders, unwanted immigrants. But to five generations of our family, Aceh was home.
Ornamental patterns:
I collect textiles with ornamental patterns. History shows that ornamental patterns have existed in many cultures. Ornament bears historical and aesthetic knowledge of a specific culture. It also serves as a connecting thread between generations, diverse cultures and countries through the introduction of religion, early migration, international trade, colonisation and cross-cultural exchanges. No one is attached solely to a single culture; instead we are linked to several.
and Poetry."
Curated by Micheal Do and presented as virtual Art Fair due to COVID lockdown in Aotearoa.
https://artfair.co.nz/projects/rozana-lee/
https://artfair.co.nz/artwork/rozana-lee/
https://artfair.co.nz/artwork/a-round-table-discussion/
Excerpt of interview with Big Idea:
"For the past couple months leading to the unprecedented lockdown, I had been working on an Auckland Art Fair 2020 project. I made colourful Batik fabrics to form installation work. This gives me the freedom to hang the fabrics from the ceiling, draped across free-standing frames or spread out on the floor. My chosen method of drawing using a Tjanting, a traditional pen-like tool for applying hot wax onto the fabric speaks about my Indonesian cultural heritage.
My process, however, has been slightly altered to suit my research and exploration. In the past, ornamental patterns described a tribe to itself or to other tribes. They now tell a story of my navigations across and between cultures. My practice looks at my personal relation to (South-East) Asia, its connection to Aotearoa, and the social, political, and material histories connecting these countries together.
On what inspires me everyday, especially during lockdown:
Old family photos:
My grandfather and my father jointly owned a textile shop in Aceh, Indonesia. We lived above it, on the second storey. My mother, who was trained as a seamstress helped at the shop. Textiles are among my earliest memories. Seeing textiles and playing with various patterns, textures, and colour everyday throughout my childhood trained my eyes and hands in its appreciation. Textiles connect me to my past, my whakapapa, and is most likely why they have been present in my works. In 2004, my parents’ shophouse was destroyed by the Boxing day tsunami. The catastrophe killed over 170,000 in my hometown. This included my mother. Right after that, their ravaged shophouse was looted. Everything of value was taken. All that remained was destruction. We were considered outsiders, unwanted immigrants. But to five generations of our family, Aceh was home.
Ornamental patterns:
I collect textiles with ornamental patterns. History shows that ornamental patterns have existed in many cultures. Ornament bears historical and aesthetic knowledge of a specific culture. It also serves as a connecting thread between generations, diverse cultures and countries through the introduction of religion, early migration, international trade, colonisation and cross-cultural exchanges. No one is attached solely to a single culture; instead we are linked to several.
and Poetry."