Yen Qin 燕琴 is the ceramic practice of Georgina Yen Qin Lee, a ceramic artist based in Naarm (Melbourne) Australia.
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Georgina acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which she works and lives — the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation. She pays her respects to Elders past and present. This land was never ceded.
About
Georgina uses the medium of ceramics as a conduit to reconnect with her Southern Chinese and South East Asian ancestral roots while exploring her lived experience growing up as an Asian woman in Australia.
Combining wheel thrown, hand-manipulated forms with complex surface treatments, her works address themes of cultural shame and reverence whilst making sense of the ‘third cultural space’ in which she occupies.
Georgina’s connection with ceramics goes beyond its materiality and artistic expression; it is also rooted in the medium’s historical and cultural contexts. In researching the significance of ceramics in her culture, Georgina unearths stories and ancestral customs lost over centuries of her family’s diaspora.
Georgina’s practice engages with the potential of cultural exchange and amalgamation, exploring the power of objects to transcend differences and foster understanding. Her works extend an invitation to viewers to participate in their own cultural rediscovery, creating a space that celebrates heritage and cultural identity within contemporary life.
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Curriculum Vitae
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
TABLED, curated by The Association of Ceramics Australia, Manly Art Gallery & Museum and Peter Gilmore
Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney
2023
Everybody’s Heard of a Dragon, curated by James Lemon and Bobby Corica
Craft Victoria, Melbourne
Tracing Change,
Modern Times, Melbourne
The Vessel Project,
Craft Victoria, Melbourne
July featured artists,
Bouvardia, Melbourne
2022
It’s Not Just Blue,
Craft Victoria, Melbourne
A Gentle Unwinding,
Modern Times, Melbourne
Reclaim, Brunswick Street Gallery,
Craft Contemporary, Melbourne
Concurrence, Warrandyte Pottery,
Craft Contemporary, Melbourne
EMERGE: Tenth Edition,
Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
1000 Vases, Galerie Joseph,
78 Rue de Turenne, Paris
Clay Connected, Melbourne Design Week,
1280 Gallery, Melbourne
Small Works Art Prize 2022,
Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2021
Winter Exhibition, Thrown Contemporary,
London, United Kingdom
2014
FAUX MUSEUM, c3 contemporary art space, curated by Melissa Loughnan, Anusha Kenny, Kate Tucker and Ace Wagstaff
Nothing’s Happened Since Yesterday with Kenny Pittock, curated by Naima Morelli, Galleria 291 Est, San Lorenzo, Rome, Italy
SUB12, The Substation, Newport, curated by Will Foster, with Liz Dunn, Lara Thoms, Arlo Mountford, Rowan McNaught, Laresa Kosloff, Jessie Bullivant, Charlie Sofo, Isadora Vaughan, Agnes So, Dylan Hammond, Travis Englefield
Artworks and Exchanges, with Kate Just, Monte Masi, et al. An exhibition as part of the international conference on socially engaged art: Spectres of Evaluation, Footscray Community Arts Centre and Incinerator Gallery.
Business As Usual,
Bus Projects, Collingwood
Campus,
George Paton Gallery, Parkville, curated by Alison Lasek
2012
Monopolife, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy
En-CUBATORS, Trocadero Art Space, Footscray
Living the Dream,
c3 contemporary art space, Abbotsford Convent
2011
The Collective, Off the Kerb Gallery, Collingwood
Graduate Show,
Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank
Studio Art Graduate Show,
Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank
ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
2022
4-day Intensive Masterclass with Malcolm Greenwood, NSW
Advancing Glazes (12-week online course), Ceramic Materials Workshop
From the Ground Up, Masterclass with Damon Moon, Federation University
Understanding Glazes (12-week online course), Ceramics Materials Workshop
2021 - 2022
Studio Program with Neville French, School of Clay and Art (SoCA), VIC
BOARD POSITIONS (ARTS)
2020
Board Observer, Lucy Guerin Inc, VIC
2012-2017
Treasurer and Board Member, Bus Projects, VIC
EDUCATION
2012 Graduate Diploma in Arts (Art History),
University of Melbourne
2012 Graduate Certificate in Visual Art,
Victorian College of the Arts
2006 Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Hons) / Bachelor of Commerce, Monash University