“I never really thought I wanted to be a musician. It was something that I just had to do.”

Taiwanese-Australian musician Jaguar Jonze, real name Deena Lynch, makes many things from the shards of her life – alongside music she is a visual artist (Spectator Jonze), a photographer (Dusky Jonze), and a (necessary) activist. Processing, reclaiming, creating; art as a technique for survival. Art as a way to put back together the broken pieces.

She spoke with Kana Frazer on Thursday Mornings about her new work The Art of Broken Pieces, a multimedia performance incorporating film, fashion, live music, visual art, and performance. The title is a direct reference to the centuries old Japanese art of kintsugi, the practice of mending and resealing broken ceramics with liquid gold or lacquer. Every crack and imperfection is commemorated as part of the object’s unique history. For Deena, art and music is the way to put the broken pieces back together, to reinterpret and process.

“That metaphor really resonates with me. I’ve had a very turbulent life and to make meaning out of that turbulent life, I’ve had to constantly choose to use the liquid gold and the lacquer to repair and celebrate all of the obstacles and tribulations and triumphs.”

Deena’s performance also includes the Japanese rope bondage art shibari, a physically challenging practice which she uses to pull herself into the presentness of her body, locating herself and her trauma in order to then apply the gold to heal.

“You have to be present. You have to have self-control. You’re being hyper-aware of your emotions and your sensitivities and, you know, aware of discovering what that line of pain is as well. Shibari helped express this vulnerability and strength and control and submission that I was feeling inside with all the trauma from being an advocate.”

Listen back to the full interview up top to hear Deena talk her childhood musical influences, touring and collaborating with Haru Nemuri, and what’s next for the Jaguar Jonze project. Buy/stream her most recent album BUNNY MODE below.