Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 81 Jenna Lee

Jenna Lee is an artist whose work invites us to slow down and reconsider the stories hidden within the words and objects we often take for granted.

A Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and KarraJarri woman with Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Irish and Scottish heritage, Jenna has developed a remarkable practice that works across sculpture, installation, paper, photography and moving image.

She transforms books, archives and printed texts into beautiful and thought-provoking artworks that ask important questions...including who gets to tell history.

Jenna's work has been recognised through numerous awards, including the 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, the 2023 Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (Emerging Artist), the 2020 Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA), the 2019 Dreaming Award presented by Creative Australia. She was even one of 5 shortlisted artists for the Venice Biennale for 2026.

Jenna Lee has developed a unique and valuable artistic voice.

Jenna is represented by Mars Gallery, and some of her available works can be found at https://marsgallery.com.au/jenna-lee/

More works and info can be also be found at https://jennalee.art/about

Images

1 JL image by Anna Katsanevas

2 Instalation view of JL & Kojima Shouten's Balarr (To become light) 2023

3 White Grass Trees 1-3, 2021, pages of 'Aboriginal words and place names' bookbind thread, organic cotton thread, florist wire, glue, bookcover board 119, base 20 x 23 to 39 x 38

4 from HIStory Vessels exhibition, 2020, deconstructed pages of the Ladybird history book, 'The Story of Captain Cook'

5 To make light together 03, 2023, digital photograph 51 x 66

Just wanted to also drop a quick note here that I will be taking a few weeks off after this is published and wanted to say a heartfelt thanks for everyone’s support and encouragement thus far. I've enjoyed this immensely. I’ll be back in a few weeks with some very exciting guests and projects.

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 80 Tonee Messiah

I think it would be fair to say that Tonee Messiah’s work asks questions of you.

It asks that you stand in front and notice how you feel. Her paintings have been described by her as living in the landscape of the mind.

Tonee Messiah was born in Israel and spent her childhood moving between a kibbutz and coastal Australia, finally settling in Sydney at eleven.

That experience of perpetual transition — of never quite arriving — became the foundation of one of the most quietly original painting practices in the country.

She has a bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours from Sydney College of the Arts and a Masters of Fine Art from UNSW. Her work has entered the collections of Artbank and the Monash University Museum of Art, she collaborated with fashion label Gorman in 2022, and that same year won the Waverley Art Prize. She teaches painting at UNSW Art and Design and the National Art School.

Tonee is represented by @nicholasthompsongallery

Images

1. TM

2. A Fabricated Reflection, 2025 oil on poly cotton 122 x102

3. Essential Sensitivities, 2025, oil on poly cotton 102 x 76

4. Constructive Beliefs, 2025 oil on poly cotton 102 x 76

5. Slight Reposition on a Soft Decision, 2025 oil on poly cotton 122 x 107

Australian Women Artists

The podcast

Ep 79 Leah Thiessen

Leah Thiessen is a painter whose work is deeply shaped by place, memory, and the living energy of the landscape around her.

Leah has spent close to two decades turning a very special place in Northern NSW into one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary Australian painting.

But she didn't start there. She began her creative life in fashion design, before retraining through a fine arts diploma, and, much later, a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University.

In 2008 Leah left Sydney's Northern Beaches for the Northern Rivers region, and it was there that her real subject found her.

Her practice is both intuitive and deeply observant. Working through mark-making, scraping back, and layers of paint, Leah builds surfaces that feel alive with movement and feeling. Her paintings seem to capture the spirit of a place.

She's now represented by Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne, Despard Gallery in Hobart, and Lethbridge Gallery in Brisbane, with solo shows including Broadwater, Biome, and her most recent exhibition, Rustling Canopy. She's been twice named in the Top 100 Collectable Artists.

‘The course of painting is a primal impulse to mark. It is a physical and emotional experience. I paint in an expressive and gestural way capturing the force and energy of a place. I create a visceral experience through the use of mark making and the application of paint. My paintings are process driven and it is only through the act of painting over, scraping back and drawing into, that my work is resolved.’

Head to the link in my bio to hear the episode or search Australian Women Artists wherever you get your podcasts.

Leah is represented by @flinderslanegallery, @despardgallery, @lethbridgegallery

Images of Leah's work to follow in the next post...