Jenny Polak

Jenny Polak’s large-scale interventions in public space and intimate subversions of domestic design highlight and transform unequal social relations. The art is fueled by her work in architecture, family history of migration, and collaborations with directly impacted community members. Raised in coastal communities in England, she is inspired by waterfront structures, signals and flotation equipment. Her first public work in the US was installed on Lower Manhattan’s East River waterfront.

Her art has been exhibited widely and she has created site-responsive, community engaged projects for Socrates Sculpture Park, MoMA/PS1, Concerned Citizens of Hobart, IN, the Center for Arts and Public Life, Chicago, Griffiss International Sculpture Garden in Rome NY, Exit Art and The Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Since 2020 she has worked with members of the Fortune Society - people rebuilding lives after incarceration - co-creating artworks that give a platform to their experiences. Her latest project, for MoMA PS1, includes protective puffer outfits whose stuffing is made from participants’ shredded documents.

Polak has degrees in Architecture (Cambridge University,) Art (St. Martins School of Art, London) and an MFA (School of Visual Arts) and was a fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her work has been discussed in the New York Times, Hyperallergic, The Art Newspaper, Bomb Magazine and the Brooklyn Rail and has won support from Creatives Rebuild NY, MoMA PS1, BRIC, Villa Albertine, NYFA, the Graham Foundation, Franklin Furnace, and residencies including Camargo Foundation, Northwestern University, Newark Museum, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Visit her site at jennypolak.com