Form is prioritized over function in Jennifer Lim’s slow, hand-built ceramics. With a focus on surface noise and disruption, her work conveys a sense of porousness and malleability. A deep love for nature leads her to highlight the inherent qualities and materiality of clay, while working towards a practice that is minimally extractive, and honors the multiform ways in which this earth nourishes us. As an immigrant settler, Jen is keenly aware that extractive processes in procuring ceramic and glaze materials sometimes cause great harm to local and Indigenous communities and lands worldwide. Her practice is an ongoing engagement with this tension—exploring her positionality and responsibility, through art and with great humility, in supporting repair and resilience.

Of Chinese descent and born in Manila, Jen immigrated to Toronto in her early teens. She obtained a dual BA in Visual Arts and Anthropology from the University of Toronto, with a concentration on printmaking and site-specific installation. She focused on street and travel photography, then food and beverage photography while living in New York City for 15 years. She also worked as a photo researcher and photo librarian while obtaining her masters in Library and Information Science (with a concentration on archival studies). Jen pivoted to ceramics in 2018, and established a practice after moving to Vancouver in 2020. Her work has been included in curated group shows in the U.S. and Vancouver.

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Contact Jen to collaborate, or purchase work.