Charlie Lee



    Production DesignEmile Is Missing

    Art and Performance


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    I acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the Kulin nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which I live, work, and create. I pay respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. Always was, Always will be Aboriginal Land. 

    About



    Charlie Lee is a performance designer, artist, and writer from Aotearoa working across dance, textiles, costume making and research. Led by queer/trans* ecological methodologies and aesthetics of collapse, their work understands contamination as a site of de-naturalising encounters. They are interested in how design, text, and material can act as choreographic agents, and problematise totalising understandings of the body and world.

    Charlie was part of the Emerging Writers Program at Seventh Gallery in 2024 and continues to co-facilitate Trans Ecology Club, a reading and project group. They write as an attempt at articulating the failure of language to capture the atmospheric and ephemeral qualities of live performance. Recently they took part in ‘Texting Images,’ a joint programme between Blindside Gallery and the Emerging Writers Festival. 

    In 2025 ‘Camopansies,’ Charlie’s first choreographic project debuted at Dancehouse, supported by a studio residency at WXYZ Studios/Lucy Guerin Inc. They are also part of Glass Bricks, a new film collective for the weird and cybernetic.  Recent design projects include ‘Reqiuem’ (Lucy Eidelson, 2025), ‘Mis O’ the Mountain’ (Jessie Monk, 2025), Diagrammatica (Jason Maling, 2025), and Sam Carson’s film ‘Emile is Missing’ (2024). Charlie holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) where selected design credits include ‘Time Under Tension’ with Luke George (2024) and devised work ‘Angelfood’ (2023). 
     

                      

    Design/making


    2025





    2024






    2023




    2022    Camopansies, by Charlie Lee, Dancehouse / Design, Concept, Choreography
    Requiem, by Lucy Eidelson, Meat Market / Costume
    Diagrammatica, by Jason Maling, RISING Festival / Host & Costume Production 
    Mis O’ The Mountain, by Jessie Monk, Dancehouse / Costume
    Pulau (Island), Chor. Melanie Lane, AsiaTOPA / Costume Production for Eugyeene Teh
     
    (Un)Tethered, Chor. Luke George, VCA / Spatial & Costume Design
    Vacations in America by Will Palazzo / Production Design (Music Vid)
    Emile Is Missing by Sam Carson / Production Design (Film)
    Tesselate-topia Roaming Axolotls / Costume
    Everybody by Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins, Dir. Isabella Vadiveloo, VCA / Costume Design As Things Go by Jacqui Maida / Costume, Writing & Development

    I'll Explain It All To You Later, Victorian College of the Arts / Costume & Devising
    Air Hunger, Abbotsford Convent / Costume
    //command_shift ^break, MUDFEST / Costume
    The Wilde Kind, Midsumma Festival & Fringe / Set and Costume

    The Schgooks of Flughm, MUSE Festival / Set and Costume
    Seven Seconds, MUSE Festival / Set and Costume
    HAML3T, UniMelb Shakespeare Society / Co-Set Design


                        

    Art/Performance


    2025



    2024


    2023

    2022

    2020
    Camopansies, Dancehouse / Choreography, Performance
    Camopansies, QUALITY Gallery / Performance
    A most glorious tree made of glitter pendants and phthalate jewels, Super New Year / Performance

    Thread of by Body, Thread of my Bed, Unassigned Gallery, cur. Phoebe Greaves / Group
    The Lygon Street Art Show, cur. Margot de Gier / Group

    The Small-ish Art Prize, Nabe Studios / Group

    Quakes in Mind, George Paton Gallery / Solo Exhibition

    Cabinet of Curiosities, National Library of Aotearoa / Group



    Organising and Backstage


    2024-25

    2023



    2022



    2021

    Trans* Ecology Club, held at various locations from 2024 / Co-Faciliator

    Possum Magic, Australian Ballet School / Costume Assistant (Internship)
    MUSE Festival, Victorian College of the Arts / Production Manager
    Little Women, Victorian College of the Arts / Costume Assistant & Dresser

    EMILIA, Arts Centre Melbourne / Costume Assistant
    Theatrum Botanicum, VCA Dance / Set Construction
    HAML3T, UniMelb Shakespeare Society / Assistant Stage Manager

    Outerspaces Te Kete o Te Kāhui (Takatāpui Queer Youth Org.) / Events Organiseri
    ROXY, WITCH Aotearoa / Costume Assistant
    Sweeny Todd, WITCH Aotearoa / Costume Assistant + Dresser



    Education


    2025

    2024


    2021    Yellow Wheel Dance Company

    Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) / The Victorian College of the Arts
    SEVENTH Gallery Emerging Writers Programme

    Special FX Makeup / Toi Whakaari Summer Workshop