Jenny Polak, Wall Tiles (detail), 2021
Exhibition on view: Tue, Oct. 10 2023 - Sun, Jan. 21 2024
Opening Reception: Tue, Oct. 10 from 7-9PM. RSVP HERE >>
Trained as an architect, Jenny Polak draws on the language of interior design and domesticity to address the effects of state-sanctioned violence, mass incarceration, and immigration detention in the United States and abroad. The works in Homeward Bound materialize as domestic objects infused with imagery of borders and prisons, mapping the home as a site of labor, longing, and the potential for radical hospitality.
Homeward Bound disrupts the line between the domestic and the foreign. Through backsplash tiles, custom wallpaper, porcelain tableware, pennants, and model banquettes, Polak explores how the structures and politics of borders and prisons shape everyday life and notions of home for millions around the globe. Whether expressing solidarity with migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, or uplifting those who have been directly impacted by mass incarceration, Polak’s work underlines the ways our sense of safety and belonging are collectively marked by inequality–an inequality that can be fought at home. Homeward Bound presses on the real and imagined boundaries of the domestic space, revealing a powerful opportunity for shared acts of reparation.
Polak is a 2022-23 BRIClab: Contemporary Art resident. Jenny Polak: Homeward Bound is curated by Maria McCarthy, Curatorial Associate.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Jenny Polak-headshot (1).jpg
Jenny Polak (she/her)
Born in London, England, UK; based in Brooklyn, NY
Jenny Polak has been featured in exhibitions and programs at the Brooklyn Museum, BRIC, Smack Mellon, and Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; MoMA PS1 and Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Brief Histories, New York, NY; the Newark Museum, NJ; the Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; the Hyde Park Art Center and Weinberg/Newton Gallery, Chicago, IL. Polak has also exhibited internationally at the First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe; Les Kurbas Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine; Barbican Concourse Gallery, London; Dean Clough, Halifax, UK; and Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Holland. She was awarded residencies and fellowships at the Camargo Foundation, BRIC, Villa Albertine, Socrates Sculpture Park, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Grand Canyon National Parks, and the Graham Foundation. Polak is currently a resident artist with The Fortune Society under the Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program. Polak attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. She received her BA in Architecture from Cambridge University, her BA in Fine Art and Critical Studies from St. Martins School of Art, and her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts.
jennypolak.com | @jennypolakstudio
Venue Information:
The Project Room, located adjacent to the Gallery in BRIC House is an added resource for video work, BRIC's emerging curator program, small-scale exhibitions and experimental curatorial projects.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org