Grace Lillian Lee: The Winds of Guardians

CASSANDRA BIRD, Paris supported by Zimmermann is pleased to present our inaugural solo exhibition titled The Winds of Guardians by celebrated artist and curator Grace Lillian Lee, a Meriam Mer woman from the Torres Strait Islands, born and based in Cairns (Gimuy), where her works are created. 

 Renowned for her sculptural weaving practice, Lee reimagines traditional Torres Strait Islander techniques through a distinctly contemporary lens. Her work sits at the intersection of cultural heritage and innovation, exploring themes of identity, performance, and community through intricately constructed sculptural forms. Across her practice, Lee uses fibre as a medium of transformation, materialising memory, protection, and Indigenous sovereignty through bold, contemporary expressions.

 The Winds of Guardians features an installation of four woven sculptures and an installation presenting the Dream Weaver Mask, together with video. The four woven sculptures pay tribute to the ancestral journeys that have shaped Lee’s diverse lineage. Each work acts as contemporary armour, a shield of strength and resilience that merges cultural tradition with contemporary visual language. Using her signature weaving techniques, Lee creates sculptural forms that serve as vessels for intergenerational connection and cultural transmission.

Each of the four sculptures is colour-coded to represent specific branches of her family: her maternal and paternal grandparents, her parents, and the union between herself and her partner. Together, these works embody the “winds” that have carried her ancestors across oceans, linking China, the Torres Strait Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. They form a collective expression of ancestral movement through time and space, woven monuments that honour the past while asserting a powerful, living presence in contemporary Indigenous art.

The Dream Weaver Mask is a singular and profoundly symbolic artwork that acts as both historical artefact and contemporary expression. Originating from Papua New Guinea and transformed through Lee’s weaving practice, the mask is the only existing representation of The Dream Weaver to date. It marks a pivotal moment in the artist’s career: a point of convergence between personal partnership and cultural continuity, signifying unity, transformation, and the beginning of a new creative narrative.

Grace Lillian Lee’s recent solo exhibitions include The Guardians (229LAB, Paris Couture Fashion Week, 2025), The Dream Weaver: Guardians of Grace (Brisbane Powerhouse, 2024), and Exposed Resilience (Brisbane Quarter, 2024). Her work has also featured in major group exhibitions including Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion (National Museum of Australia; BHV Marais, Paris; National Museum of Prehistory, Taiwan), New Exuberance (JamFactory national tour), Belonging (Art Gallery of New South Wales), and APT10 (Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane).

 Lee’s work is held in significant public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, QAGOMA, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Powerhouse Museum. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Design from the University of Technology Sydney (2025) and named Indigenous Designer of the Year at the Australian Fashion Laureate (2024).