Jenna Mayilema Lee — Taking back taken

Jenna Mayilema Lee spent five years learning to turn paper into string, and the paper she chose was the British Museum's own floor plan. That map carries a suggested donation of two pounds; Lee took one without paying, then had family and friends flying to London take more on her behalf until she had enough to weave six dilly bags. Taking back taken won the $15,000 Work on Paper Award at the Telstra NATSIAAs in Darwin on August 7, one of seven prizes drawn from 64 finalists and 221 entries. Lee is Larrakia, Karrajarri and Wardaman, working in Melbourne and off Country, which is the practical reason the material is paper and not pandanus: following her ancestors means being expert in the resources around you, and hers is a house full of books. The detail that decides it: she describes the collecting network she assembled as not unlike the way empire sent people out to gather world culture. The bags take the form of the objects she used to book appointments to see in museum storerooms. On show at MAGNT until January 24.