With a mission to make art accessible and a vision to bring people together, she has independently curated interactive shows like the groundbreaking – and rule-breaking –exhibition I CAN DO THAT, which featured artists from all over the world and was named the audience choice for "Best Art Exhibit"in the 20th anniversary edition of NewCity's Best of Chicago issue in 2012. Such imaginative exhibitions not only challenged guests to think beyond common misconceptions about art and step outside their comfort zones, but also broke barriers, built community, inspired people to see the world anew, and demonstrated that art is for everyone.
Her own art has been exhibited at places like the Chicago Cultural Center and the Chicago Public Library, and she is the 1st Prize Winner of the National Park Service's Centennial Project. She is also the creator of Dreams of a City, an ongoing city-wide participatory public art and mapping project for which she was awarded the Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Exploring the effects of geographical boundaries while finding connections, amplifying different voices, and bridging the distances between us, she originated this data-driven postcard project in 2008 in Manhattan and revitalized it a few years later in Chicago, where it continues to this day as a labor of love, a love letter to the city, and a message of hope.
Jenny has curated exhibitions at venues like the renowned Zhou B Art Center and guest judged shows at galleries like Line Dot Editions and Water Street Studios. She has written extensively for Time Out and Sixty Inches from Center and been published in the graphic novel anthology New Frontiers. She has spoken at a Leonardo LASER Talk about resilience, at Facebook Chicago about media representation, at Startup Art Fair about “What Matters,” and on a panel about “Writing in the Margins,” building platforms for folks whose work doesn’t adhere to mainstream arts narratives; performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and 20x2 Chicago; conducted Visiting Artist Workshops at the Chicago Children’s Museum; conducted portfolio reviews at Harold Washington Library’s “Get Archived” event, which empowered artists with the opportunity to “take ownership of their place in [their] city’s cultural history”; and been featured in the political documentary Transition to Power and on PBS, The Huffington Post, PetaPixel, Fstoppers, Character Media, AsAmNews, I Am New Generation, Women Direct, WGN, WBEZ, Crain’s, South Side Weekly, DNAinfo, Block Club Chicago, Chicagoist, Gapers Block, Gozamos, and more.
Jenny’s photography—all shot on her iPhone 5s, showing that it’s all about the artist rather than the tool—has been featured in exhibits and on Guardian Travel, Buzzfeed, Atlas Obscura, Mashable, Matador Network, Folk Magazine, Choose Chicago, Enjoy Illinois, Hong Kong Tourism Board, RedEye, Asia Art Archive, Untapped Cities, Tiny Atlas Quarterly, Block Club Chicago, and more. She often uses her photography to share her love of her family, her culture, and her people, providing a unique personal perspective and look into her ancestral homeland. With her choice of equipment—merely her mobile phone—PetaPixel referred to her work in an article as “One of the greatest expressions of ‘the best camera is the one you have on you.’”
She is the featured artist of the literary magazine Lover’s Eye Press. A quote in an interview and feature article: “When I first saw Jenny Lam, I knew I had to meet her. As an artist, independent curator, and overall badass, Jenny’s sparkling grace and exuding talent make her an inherently magnetic and unforgettable figure. Not only is Jenny brilliant, but she is probably one of the busiest artists I’ve ever encountered. Her interest in the world and people around her reveals her belief in the important of facilitating connections between individuals through conversation or collaborative art projects—sometimes both simultaneously.” –Eniko Vághy, Founding Editor-in-Chief of Lover’s Eye Press.
Fun fact: English is technically her second language; she taught herself English as a baby by watching Sesame Street.
She can't whistle.
