Jennifer Tee creates artworks that could be seen as material representations of the journey of the soul.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
Questioning the relationship between spirit and matter, she works to give form to the intangible through material experimentation and performative gestures. Her works are characterized by her experimental use of a wide variety of creative techniques. Tee combines collages made with dried tulip petals and sculptures including ceramic domes, knitted floor objects, and textile coverings with performances to uncover the fragile entanglements of life. The work responds to experiences of cultural hybridity, identity and language, and trade routes between people, commodities and objects from nature.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
Jennifer Tee
‘Tampan World Mountain, Ancestral Beginnings’ 2023
‘Tampan Tree of life, Naga~Nagini’ 2024
‘Tampan Ship of Souls #3’
Weaving together the artist’s Dutch and Chinese-Indonesian heritage, these key works from Jennifer Tee’s ongoing ‘Tampan Tulips’ series draw inspiration from the colourful, geometric aesthetics of tampan textiles – traditional woven cloths from the Lampung region of southern Sumatra, Indonesia. They are created seasonally, two per year, using tulip petals which are meticulously picked, dried, pressed and placed.
The collages often include symbols such as turtles, birds, giant trees and human beings to convey the beautiful but delicate and fleeting nature of life. In each, positioned at the bottom, is a ship which the artist uses as a recurring motif to symbolise
‘Tampan World Mountain, Ancestral Beginnings’ 2023 ‘Tampan Tree of life, Naga~Nagini’ 2024 ‘Tampan Ship of Souls #3’ Weaving together the artist’s Dutch and Chinese-Indonesian heritage, these key works from Jennifer Tee’s ongoing ‘Tampan Tulips’ series draw inspiration from the colourful, geometric aesthetics of tampan textiles – traditional woven cloths from the Lampung region of southern Sumatra, Indonesia. They are created seasonally, two per year, using tulip petals which are meticulously picked, dried, pressed and placed. The collages often include symbols such as turtles, birds, giant trees and human beings to convey the beautiful but delicate and fleeting nature of life. In each, positioned at the bottom, is a ship which the artist uses as a recurring motif to symbolise the creatures and natural beings travelling between the earthly world and the afterlife. The work connects to Tee’s maternal grandfather’s vocation as a tulip bulb exporter, whilst also referencing her family’s history of migration – her father migrated from Indonesia to the Netherlands in the 1950’s – and the modern history of migration more generally, including the patterns of trade, import, export, emigration and immigration via Liverpool’s docks. Courtesy of the artist. Supported by Mondriaan Fund.
Jennifer Tee
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Jennifer Tee, Tampan Ship of Souls #3 2023, Tampan Tree of life 2024, Tampan World Mountain, Ancestral Beginnings 2023. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at Walker Art Gallery. Photography by Mark McNulty.
Venue
Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8ELAccess facilities available
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This edition
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Jennifer Tee, Still Shifting, Mother Field, Secession, Vienna, AT, 2022. Co-produced with Kunstinstituut Melly, 2023. Photography by Oliver Ottenschläger. -
Jennifer Tee, Still Shifting, Mother Field, Secession, Vienna, AT, 2022. Co-produced with Kunstinstituut Melly, 2023. Photography by Oliver Ottenschläger. -
Jennifer Tee, Ancestral Creatures, Sessile Beings, Tina Kim Gallery, US, Installation view, 2024. Courtesy Tina Kim Gallery, NY, US. Photography by Hyunjung Rhee
