Biography
Dr Rona Lee is a fine artist, based in London, working in a range of media: combining performance, photography, sculpture and video and found objects. She also writes on the capacity of artistic practice to support new forms of critical thinking.
Lee is currently a member of the advisory board of Artquest, an ACE national portfolio organisation which works to support professional artists across their careers.Between 1993 and 2001 she held posts at a number of UK Art Schools, most recently as Professor of Fine Art at Northumbria University.
Statement
Evolving from a background in Performance her current practice focuses on the politics and aesthetics of Geo-materiality along with the human / non-human entanglements of the Anthropocene. Work in development includes a response to the archives of the Sedgwick Musuem of Earth Science.
CV
Solo exhibitions and commissioned work
| 2023 | mineralis insurrexi | Worlds Away, MAC, Birmingham |
| 2017 | A Necessary Darkness | Amsterdam Light Festival, Holland |
| 2012 | That Oceanic Feeling | John Hansard Gallery, Southampton |
| 2010 | Truthing Gap | National Oceanography Centre Library, Southampton |
| 2003 | Tails - my father told me | Radiator 02, Nottingham, UK. Berlin, Germany. |
| 2002 | Breaking the Surface | William Wilberforce Museum, Hull |
| 2001 | The encircling of a shadow | Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall |
| 2001 | HAPPY I and II | Span, Dilston Grove, London |
| 2000 | Reasoning Backwards | Dartington Arts Gallery, Devon |
| 1999 | CUT | Beaconsfield, Henie Onsad Kunstsenter, Norway |
| 1999 | s[H]elf II | La Chambre Blanche, Quebec City, Canada |
| 1998 | s[H]elf I | Cambridge Darkroom, Cambridge |
| 1997 | auto / nomos | Visionfest, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool |
| 1997 | Present | Hull Time Based Arts, Beverley Public Library |
| 1996 | SHRINKING the miniature | Firstsite @ The Minories, Colchester |
| 1995 | DISORDERS | Beaconsfield, St.Thomas' Hospital, London |
| 1995 | Avid Meta-morphosis I | ICA, London |
| 1994 | Avid Meta-morphosis I | National Review of Live Art, Glasgow |
| 1990 | There are those that have eyes and will not see | Junction Arts Centre, Cambridge |
| 1990 | Eros/Ares | Junction Arts Centre, Cambridge |
Selected group exhibitions
| 2021 | Distance | Lacuna Festival (online platform) |
| 2019 | Inside Nature | Surface Matters: Take Courage Gallery, London |
| 2018 | Guidance on Ensuring the Safety ... | Liquidscapes: Dartington Hall, Devon |
| 2017 | the lines no longer hold: | Dark Liquid: Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin |
| 2015 | Guidance on Ensuring the Safety ... | A Perfect and Absoulute Blank: Baltic Art Gallery, Newcastle |
| 2015 | If all the seas.... | Abstracted Visions: Information Mapping; from Mystic Diagrams to Data Visualizations, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, California. |
| 2014 | AMA | Power of the Sea: Royal West of England Academy, Bristol |
| 2011 | Various Works | About Time: London Metropolitan University |
| 2009 | Various works | MAPPING: Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff, UK |
| 2009 | Calenture I | Land Use Poetics: Skissernas Museum, Lund, Sweden |
| 2009 | The Submersion Series , Tair Lair | Borderland: Colyer Bristow, London, UK |
| 2007 | Untitled | Imaginary Places: Banff Arts Centre, Canada |
| 2006 | Pilgrims Progress | Ovada: Oxford, UK |
| 2005 | HAPPY I and II | Radio Taxi: Taxi Gallery, Cambridge, UK |
| 2005 | Tails - My Father told me | Flock: Spacex , Towner Art Gallery , Arnolfini |
| 2005 | Tails- My Father Told Me | History Revision, Plymouth Art Centre |
Selected grants and other awards
| 2022-24 | Lithic Entanglements: DYCP Award | Arts Council England |
| 2008-10 | Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence Award | National Oceanography Centre, Southampton |
| 2012 | That Oceanic Feeling: Production Award | Arts Council England Grants for the Arts |
| 2004-5 | One to One bursary | Live Art Development Agency |
| 2001 | Individual Artist's Award | London Arts Board |
| 2000-03 | AHRC Fellowship in Creative and Performing Arts | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| 1999 | Travel Award | British Council |
| 1998 | Research and Development Award | Arts Council England, Combined Arts |
| 1996 | First Time Publication Award | Arts Council England |
Funded Residencies
| 2018-19 | Florence Trust Studio Programme | Florence Trust , London |
| 2016 | Mothership | Mothership, Dorest |
| 2014 | Research and Development Programme | Kino, Kino, Sandnes, Norway |
| 2007 | Imaginary Places | Banff Arts Centre, Canada |
| 2005 | Reside and Repopulate | Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire |
| 1999 | Studio Programme | Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin |
| 1999 | Exhibition, Research and Development | La Chambre Blanche, Quebec |
Publications
| 2022 | In Love with the Lithosphere – journeying towards the Anthropocene through the paper landscapes of the Modern | Postcards from the Anthropocene - Unsettling the Geo-Politics of representation: DPR, Barcelona |
| 2018 | the house of light made dark | From the Lighthouse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Light: Routledge, London |
| 2013 | Truthing Gap - imagining a relational geography of the uninhabitable | Emerging Landscapes: Between Production and Representation: Ashgate, London |
| 2012 | That Oceanic Feeling | John Hansard Gallery, Southamton |
| 2011 | Envisaging the Deep | Architectural Research Quarterly |
| 2011 | Entering the Field | Land Use Poetics: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lund |
| 2006 | Futurology | We Are Five: Artquest /UAL, London |
| 2006 | Dry Optics, Watery Places and Shaky Ground | 8 artists try not to talk about art: SPACE, London |
| 2006 | Location, Location, Location | Taxi Gallery, Cambridge |
| 2003 | More than a medley | Live Culture: Tate Modern, London |
| 2001 | I love live art - postcards from a volatile caucus: ACE, London |
Education and qualifications
| 2003-6 | Phd Fine Art | Oxford Brookes University |
| 1991-2 | M.A. Critical Studies, Fine Art and Performance | Wimbledon School of Art |
| 1997-8 | B.A.Hons English/ Drama | Goldsmiths College, University of London |
Employment
| 2013 - 21 | Professor of Fine Art | Northumbria University, Newcastle |
Other roles
| 1995-2003 | Mentor | Lorem Location |