Grace Lillian Lee, one of Australia’s most prominent First Nations artists and fashion designers, will present her work at the India Art Fair in New Delhi from 5 to 8 February, appearing at Booth No. 001 with the support of the Australian High Commission in India.
Based in Cairns in Far North Queensland, Lee is an Indigenous Australian artist, weaver and designer whose practice draws on her Torres Strait Islander heritage. Born in 1988, she is a descendant of the Doolah family from Erub (Darnley Island), with Meriam Mir as her language group. Her work brings together traditional Torres Strait Islander weaving practices with contemporary fashion and sculptural forms, using materials such as cotton webbing, feathers and thread to create body-sized works, accessories and couture pieces.
At the India Art Fair, Lee will showcase work connected to The Guardians, the couture collection she presented in Paris in 2024, marking the first time an Indigenous Australian designer debuted a couture collection during Couture Fashion Week. The collection reflects her ongoing interest in protection, ancestry and continuity, expressed through wearable forms that sit between art, fashion and cultural practice.
Lee is a graduate of RMIT University, where she completed an Honours degree in Fashion Design. Over the past decade, she has become a leading figure in Indigenous fashion in Australia and internationally. She is the founder of First Nations Fashion + Design, an organisation that supports and promotes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander designers and creatives, helping to build pathways into global fashion markets.
Her career includes collaborations with international designers, including Jean Paul Gaultier, and recognition across both the arts and fashion sectors. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Design from the University of Technology Sydney, won the Carla Zampatti Leadership Award in 2021, and was named the Australian Laureate Indigenous Designer in 2024.
Lee’s work has been exhibited in major public collections and institutions, including the Cairns Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Pieces such as Belonging 3 have been shown as part of broader exhibitions examining identity, place and cultural continuity within contemporary Australian art.
Her appearance at the India Art Fair places Indigenous Australian fashion and textile practice within an international art context, offering Indian and global audiences an opportunity to engage directly with work grounded in Torres Strait Islander knowledge while speaking a contemporary visual language. Visitors to Booth No. 001 will encounter works that sit at the intersection of art, fashion and cultural expression, shaped by lineage, place and lived experience.
Maria Irene is India Correspondent for The Indian Sun, reporting on technology, finance, culture, and diaspora stories across India and Australia, with a special focus on initiatives led by the Australian High Commission and its Consulates across India
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