JJ Lee

JJ Lee (b.1969) (BFA, NSCAD ‘92, MFA, York University ‘99) was born and raised in Halifax, NS to parents immigrated from China and Hong Kong. She is an equal opportunity appropriator who explores the intersection of Chinese and Canadian cultures in mixed media paintings and drawing installations. Lee has exhibited extensively in both public institutions and artist-run centres across the country. She is the recipient of several awards both for her individual work and her collaborative work with The Drawing Board (an award-winning collective with N. Waldburger and A. Swartz). Lee’s work is in public and private collections in Canada and the USA. JJ lives in Toronto with her husband and teenager and is a tenured Associate Professor, Contemporary Issues of Representation at OCAD University. She is represented by Prow Gallery in Halifax, NS and Gallery on Queen in Fredericton, NB.

"Through mixed media paintings and drawings, I explore the hyphen between identities and representations that are the result of colonization and immigration. Reconstructing the intersections of Chinese and Western cultures, I “mashup” appropriated images from diverse sources with various drawing and painting media. Re-invented and hybrid identities result from these combinations."