A social commentator, Lilo's work uses digital photography, video, and multimedia installations to explore issues of popular culture. She utilises monitors and projections, displaying her work in gallery spaces, buildings, shop windows, and online.[1]
Lilo has exhibited in solo shows in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Japan.[4] She has exhibited internationally in group shows in Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, France, Germany, and the United States of America.[1] Lilo's video installation 'ParkLife' was part of the City Gallery Wellington's exhibition Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand.[5][1]
In 2009, Lilo received the JENESYS (Japan East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youths) residency in Sapporo.[2]
In 2013, her installation Right of Way was presented at Artspace Aotearoa as part of the fifth Auckland Triennial, curated by Hou Hanru.[7]
In 2016, she had a significant solo exhibition titled Janet Lilo: Status Update, at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery in Auckland. It was a survey of the last 10 years of her work which included a collage of 10,000 photographs and a book.[8][9]
Lilo's public artworks include a series of large-scale 'banana lightboxes' on Auckland's Karangahape Road, which are collectively titled Don't Dream it's Over.
