Artist. Artist agent. Independent curator. Writer. Troublemaker. Columbia University alumnus. Chicago-born Chinese American daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong. Globetrotting polyglot. People connector. Culture cultivator. Kyriarchy smasher. Graphic T-shirt addict. Former precocious child. Current child at heart. Leo. INTJ. Nerd. 1st Prize Winner of the National Park Service & National Park Foundation's Centennial Project. Two-time recipient of the Individual Artists Program grant from the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, including for my ongoing-since-2008 large-scale interactive public art and mapping project, Dreams of a City. My site, Artists on the Lam, was named "Best Local Visual Arts Blog" in the Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago issue. My show, I CAN DO THAT, was named the audience choice for "Best Art Exhibit" in NewCity's Best of Chicago issue in 2012.
Happy 42nd anniversary to my parents! To celebrate, tonight we had dinner at Tre Dita (my idea 😎), a stunning Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago with 44-ft. ceilings and 40-ft. windows. Not pictured: the delicious food, including (but not limited to) the Tuscan handmade pasta I had and the four(!) desserts we shared (they gave us a decadent devil's food cake on the house). 🍰🥂 // (c) Jenny Lam 2026
Amy Taylor is a legend in the making. 👑 Amyl and the Sniffers at the Salt Shed (one of my favorite music venues in Chicago—this was my eighth(?) time on their salty grounds since they opened in 2022) tonight! And apparently tonight was also that cage fight at the White House? I wouldn't even have known it was happening if Amy didn't mention how fucked up it was (and of course she also ripped into Trump and ICE and said that we can counter him and his ilk by being the good we want to see in the world <3 Queen!). Obviously, watching a modern-day punk rock star > literally anything else >>> that. // (c) Jenny Lam 2026
And that's a wrap on Where Our Voices Unite! Thank you to the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology for a lovely exhibition and for the opportunity to showcase my art. The show celebrated the creativity and diverse cultural perspectives of local AANHPI artists and the many stories that shape our communities, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. Pictured here: Folks viewing my iPhone 5s photo Singing Sands, one of three pieces I had in the exhibit. Photo courtesy of CHICAT.
[Edit: Thank you CHICAT Gallery 1701 for accepting my invite to be a collaborator on my Instagram post!]
The Nurse Trees by Chicago artist Sarah Hicks. 🍄 Based on the concept of a "nurse log" (a fallen tree that becomes a nursery for new life, covered in organisms like fungi, moss, and seedlings), these decommissioned wooden utility poles have been transformed into sculptural installations, embedded with hand-crafted ceramic objects referencing the beauty in the microorganisms needed to begin this new life. They're along Ravenswood Avenue on the west side of the train tracks. What a whimsical public art piece to come across! // (c) Jenny Lam 2026
Somewhat-monthly dad & daughter drinks & dinner / bonding time 🍻 Tonight the old man and I went to Macushla Brewing Co. What a nice local craft brewery and place to hang out! And look how cute their 10 oz. goblets are. Pictured here: the Heiferweizen (a traditional German wheat beer) and the Cherry Glazerr (a sour ale brewed with Michigan cherries), which I also had for our second round. 🍒
[Edit: Thank you Macushla Brewing Co. for accepting my invite to be a collaborator on my Instagram post and for sharing my Facebook post!]
Like as soon as I turned off my laptop I averted my eyes from the dark screen because I was afraid of what might be behind me in the reflection tbh // (my Threads post)
The South Wall of For My Neighbors, With Love by Chicago artist Ponnopozz (Adrianne Hawthorne). 🎨 It's under the Union Pacific Railroad viaduct in the Ravenswood neighborhood's historic Industrial Corridor. Such a joyous mural!
[Edit: Thank you Ponnopozz and Greater Ravenswood Chamber for accepting my invite to be a collaborator on my Instagram post!]
Today's weather was simply perfect for being outside, and merely a block away from my weekly ceramics class is Margie's Candies! 🍨 This waffle cone was monstrously huge but I powered through. 😅
Anyway, Zack Snyder could totally pull off a genderbent version of this.
(I'd also love to visit the timeline where he got to make his female version of The Wrestler starring Amy Adams as a housewife who gets into bodybuilding and spirals into steroid abuse. She'd already have her Oscar in that universe tbh!)
My friend Jenna is in this great organization called World Doctors Orchestra and they're performing in Chicago this September! Just got my ticket. It's a charity concert for a good cause (check out Chi-Care and Community Outreach Intervention Projects (COIP) and the important work they do).
WDO is exactly what it sounds like: an orchestra made up entirely of physicians from around the globe. Such a cool concept!
(Jenna and I became friends when we met in Freshman Strings back in high school (yes, folks—I, too, used to be a musician, but that's a story for another day).)
It’s patio season 🌞 This place has been named the best pizza in Chicago and one of the best in the world, and it's just up the block from my weekly ceramics class! (Yes, we walk straight on over from wheel-throwing, and I'm literally splattered in clay and glaze and wearing the rattiest clothes; I don't care. 😆) Spacca Napoli Pizzeria in Ravenswood 🍕🍹 My mom and I came here once before/for the first time late last summer, and today was our first time back this season! We'll definitely try to make our visits more frequent this summer. This evening I had the Pistacchio (fior di latte, pistachio cream, sausage, and basil). // (c) Jenny Lam 2026
My photos Nomad, Singing Sands, and Heavenly Lake—all shot on my iPhone 5s—are currently on display at the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology! (On their own wall, right in the middle of the [gorgeous, sun-drenched] gallery, first thing you see when you walk inside, and also visible from the outside through the huge windows. ^-^) Yesterday was the opening reception of the exhibition Where Our Voices Unite, and what a fantastic celebration of AANHPI Heritage Month it was! I've never been to an art opening where there was so much food before. 😋 (And the funny thing about the food? The lady who did the catering recognized and came up to my mom, despite not seeing her in 20 years; the caterer was Carol, the daughter of the late great Eddy Cheung, who owned Phoenix in Chinatown back in the day! We used to go there every week for dim sum in the late 90s and 2000s! She said my parents and I haven't changed. 😅) Thank you again to curator Yidi Wang—this was a tightly curated and beautiful show!—and all the folks at CHICAT; what a wonderful space and mission. And thank you to everyone who had such kind words to say about my photography!
(Another highlight: Another artist came up to me and it was [amazingly talented painter] Chantal Danyluk! It was so great meeting you in person!)
The exhibit runs until May 31. 1701 W. 13th St., Chicago, IL 60608. Go see it!
Pictured here:
1 - Me with my pieces
2-6 - Views of my work in the gallery (quickly took these when everyone was in the other room)
I'm excited to share that my artwork—my 2017 photos Nomad, Singing Sands, and Heavenly Lake, all shot on my iPhone 5s—have been selected for the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology's upcoming art exhibition Where Our Voices Unite celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month! Thank you to gallery coordinator Yidi Wang for choosing my work.
The opening reception is tomorrow, May 21, featuring 11th Ward Alderwoman Nicole Lee as a special guest. RSVP required: here, or contact [email protected].
Happy International Museum Day! Throwback to October when I had a one-day pit stop in Hong Kong so of course I spent it in an art museum. 🧶 Chiharu Shiota, Infinite Memory (2025), dresses and ropes, then-new exhibition Dream Rooms: Environments by Women Artists 1950s–Now at M+. // (c) Jenny Lam 2025
Met the world's wittiest bank teller today. 🦩 The Pope of Trash, the King of Camp, the Sultan of Sleaze, the Prince of Puke, the Duke of Dirt, the Filth Elder himself, John Waters.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival | The John Waters Screenplays: A Reading and Conversation, which included a mystery bundle of two screenplays (I went "yes!" out loud when I opened mine and saw Pink Flamingos) and a signing afterwards (ever the director, he even directed me to hold the books up so they could be seen when he realized I was blocking them during the photo).
Loved the plexiglass and made sure I told him so. (Yes, please protect your health, John! <3 During the event he said he was supposed to be in the latest Final Destination movie but couldn't because he'd caught COVID from taking selfies with fans. Also, he caught RSV at a NIN concert. Also, his phrase for hantavirus was "rat balls," and the way he said it had me in stitches. Also, his only regret in life is smoking; he hasn't had a cigarette in over a decade. 👏)
He is SO funny and had us all practically scream-laughing throughout the event. Also, there was a contest where you could sign up for a chance to read on stage with him (I'd never clicked "no" on something that quickly before tbh); I believe the contest winner's name was Emma and she killed it omg.
My 2017 photos Summer Solstice Sunset and Urbs in Horto—both shot on my iPhone 5s—are currently on display in the North Shore Art League's new exhibition The Summer Open! 🪻 The show is in the lovely second floor gallery space of the historic Community House in Winnetka and runs until July 20. Go check it out! // (c) Jenny Lam 2026