BIO
Michael Lees (b. 1992) is a Dominican (Commonwealth of) filmmaker and photographer of Bajan and British descent. Growing up between countries and cultures, Michael became highly sensitive to the differences and inequalities between the so-called “developed" and “developing world,” and that tension became an anchoring point for his work. In both his documentaries and conceptual photography, he challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship to the natural world & natural self, playing with themes of progress, circularity, connection, and time. Michael graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, with a B.A. in Communication Studies in 2015 with a focus in Media Production, and minors in PPE (Philosophy, Political Science & Economics) and Business.
His debut documentary Uncivilized, released in 2020, led him to face Hurricane Maria alone in a bamboo hut in the forest, winning the Caribbean Spirit award at the Barbados Independent Film Festival, as well as best documentary at the Cinestar Festival in Guadeloupe in 2022.
In 2024 the film was invited to screen at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland through its Open Doors Programme. The film has led Michael to speak at numerous events including Island Innovation’s 2020 Island Summit, and at the Commonwealth Foundation's 2024 Regional Conversation. His short documentary Home Movie Tape: The Covid Years (2021), exploring memory and meaning, screened at the Trinidad Film Festival and was invited to screen at the Barbican Conservatory in London.
His photography has been exhibited at regional exhibitions including CAFA 2023, & the OECS-held exhibition, “Climate Change: An Eastern Caribbean Journey”. Two pieces from his “Moving Back, Looking Forward (2022)” series are now part of a permanent installation at Secret Bay’s Bwa Denn Gallery. He is currently represented by Vetivert Contemporary Art Gallery in Dominica and is the current President of The Waitukubuli Artist Association, Dominica’s premiere visual arts organization. He runs the production company One Off Productions in Dominica working with clients including UNICEF, Project CETI and National Geographic.
ARTIST STATEMENT
UK Born. US Educated.
But where I was made — is the forests of Dominica.
Hurricane Maria, a category five storm, met me alone, between two rivers, in an open face bamboo hut - the most intense all night ordeal I’d ever faced. The next day I crawled out from under my shelter, a tree had fallen on it collapsing it to the ground. Somehow I emerged unscathed but unprepared for what I would see. After three months under the forest canopy, I emerged to a forest without a single leaf left on a single tree. And in a curious circular fashion this experience along with the following six months without utilities, synthesized the many strands I’d been tracing, or which had rather been tracing and giving shape to me.