Jenny [on the] Lam

Scale[s]. Xiqu Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, back in March. // I'm delighted to announce that I'm one of the Selected Photographers for the Urban Photo Awards 2026 in Trieste, Italy! And the competition received a staggering 20,000 submissions! Five of my works have been published in their gallery:

- Place in the Sun (2025) in Luohan Temple, Chongqing, China: http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/en/photonew/?id=314986%2Fjenny-lam%2Fplace-in-the-sun,

- Scale[s] (2026) (pictured here): http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/en/photonew/?id=345579%2Fjenny-lam%2Fscales,

- Big Baby (2025) at the No Kings Rally and March in Chicago: http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/en/photonew/?id=345583%2Fjenny-lam%2Fbig-baby,

- Mountain City (2025) at Xiahaoli / Longmenhao Old Street, Chongqing: http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/en/photonew/?id=345581%2Fjenny-lam%2Fmountain-city, and

- One Step at a Time (2015) in the Art Institute of Chicago: http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/en/photonew/?id=345587%2Fjenny-lam%2Fone-step-at-a-time.

The first four photos were shot on my iPhone 12 Pro, and the last one was shot on my iPhone 5s.

Thank you to all the jurors!

It was so foggy tonight, this is what my local fireworks looked like lmao. (I didn’t use night mode or edit this photo whatsoever; this is really what it looked like.) Well, it sounded like a good show?

Happy 4th of July / Happy 250th birthday, America ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Stay cool, Chicago! ☀️ Throwback to last week: Inside The Understudy Coffee and Books, a queer-owned theatre-themed hybrid bookstore and coffee shop in Andersonville. 📚☕ Stopped by before my ceramics class, and, like Lillstreet Art Center, they also have fresh pastries from Defloured gluten-free bakery. 🥐 Such a pretty café!

[Edit: Thank you Siren Betty Design and Defloured for accepting my invite to be collaborators on my Instagram post!]

Today was the Grand Opening Celebration of Hello Kitty Cafe Chicago, the world's largest Hello Kitty Cafe! And I was among the first to have Afternoon Tea in the Bow Room! 🫖

The tea room is in the basement of the café and it was like a speakeasy (very appropriate for Chicago); when the staff pressed the button to open the secret door we all gasped. 😄 Most of the staff were young and all were super nice, and you could feel their first day excitement! (I was excited too.) Shout-out to our server Mingma (her folks are from Nepal and her dad was a Sherpa!).

Love that we get this in Chicago 🩷

Happy Father's Day! Throwback to 2009: Me & the old man at Richardson Farm, home to the largest corn maze in the world. 🌽

(Bonus: A few photos I took at the farm)

On this day 10(!) years ago was the opening reception for LEXICON, the massive international exhibition featuring 47 artists from around the world that I created and independently curated, spanning the entirety of the then-newly renovated 10,000 sq. ft. 2nd floor space of the Zhou B Art Center. At this interactive art show, I didn't display any artist statements next to the pieces; instead, I invited viewers to write down on Post-it notes what each artwork meant to them, or what they felt like each piece meant, and displayed their own interpretations right next to the artwork. As I said in the press release, "Forget artspeak. Let the art speak, and let it speak through you."

Photo 1 by my mom ^^; photos 2-6 (my parents are in photo 4 <3 ) are by Sergio Gomez, who gave me this opportunity (thank you, Sergio!); video courtesy of the Zhou B Art Center; and the last two images are my postcard for the show, with artwork by participating artist Arturo Mazon—LEXICON was his first ever exhibition (and I sold his piece)! Thank you to all the artists and to everyone who came and supported this show!

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.

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!

[Edit: Thank you to Sarah Hicks for accepting my invite to be a collaborator on my Instagram post and to Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce for sharing my photo in your Instagram stories!]

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!]

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. 😅

(And last time I came here was summer 2012!)