Bio

Born and raised in Canada, Jenny holds a M.A. in English Literature from the University of Ottawa and a B.A. in English and History from the University of Toronto. Following a relocation to the United Kingdom in 2013, she began taking art classes at City Lit.

Jenny participated in the City Lit Sculpture 2019 Group Show “Break, Blow, Burn” and is a founding member of the Tenfold Art Collective. She was long-listed for the 2020 Mother Art Prize.

She currently lives and works in London, UK.

Practice

Jenny’s practice has a large emphasis on repurposing existing objects.  She is particularly drawn to items of jewellery, homeware, and the decorative arts which have been cast off as no longer sufficiently fashionable or valuable. Alongside salvaged materials, Jenny uses everything from glue and twist ties, through to electroluminescent wire to construct her works.  Current projects involve the use of wood, wire, and epoxy resins as an underlying structure or a site for otherwise impossible suspensions.

Her materials vary based on availability, but have included shop mannequins, watch parts, chandelier crystals, photographs, shards of stained glass, and decanter stoppers to name a few.  These are often arranged, photographed, and disassembled many times before becoming a finished piece.  The photographs of these temporary assemblages, as well as other photographic records she has made, sometimes become assets for further collaging or works in their own right.

Thematically, Jenny is concerned with exploring the female body and its commodification, sexualisation, and exploitation. She is also interested in the role of women in the production, use, and eventual discard of her salvaged materials.

Additionally, her work frequently makes comment on memory.  Some works examine normatively functioning memory which we use to catalogue people, objects, and events which hold importance to us (and implicitly discard or edit those memories we no longer have use for).  In others, she attempts to create a visual representation of traumatic memory, its physical repercussions, and approaches to healing.

She is interested in feminism, mental health, motherhood, eco-criticism, sustainable art, and the written word.