Jennifer Bornstein is an artist producing work in a blend of media associated in ways both materially and conceptually with photographic processes. In her artwork, she uses photography, printmaking, video and 16mm film as a means of telling stories and communicating concepts, incorporating performative histories, and weaving together both autobiography and fiction. When she isn't in Rome, she lives in Los Angeles and is a professor of photography at the University of California, Irvine.
Currently a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome during the 2025-26 year, Jennifer Bornstein has received numerous awards and grants including a Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship, a DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm grant, the Foster Prize from the ICA in Boston, and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally, including solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Fargfabriken Center for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and the St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis. A monograph on her work was co-published by Sternberg Press and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute in 2018, and additional monographs have been published by Walter König Books (2016) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2005), as well as five artist's books.
How has your time at the Academy shaped or shifted the direction of your project so far?
I want to start by saying my time here has been wonderful because of the care of daily life by those working at the Academy. There's a level of consideration and kindness among staff and colleagues that's unprecedented, and this has made living at the Academy a valuable experience. This time has been transformative. It's a gift to be here.
What part of your daily routine or environment at the Academy has most influenced you and your work?
The initial plan was to spend evenings researching materials in the Academy's library; that ended very quickly. I soon headed out into the streets and am now following in the footsteps of my art and architecture superheroes. Some recent memorable encounters: trying out hot springs in the outskirts of Rome, plucking fruit off the trees behind Villa Chiaraviglio, creeping around under St. Peter's, and wandering through caves in Orvieto. There's just so much visual, aesthetic, sensory and intellectual information coming at me from all directions on any given day that I'm always in the process of absorbing it all. But the year isn't over yet, and I'm excited to see where this goes.
Have any encounters–with people, places, new information–opened up new paths in your research or practice in the past months?
Exploring the contemporary art galleries in Rome has been a great way to see what's being made by artists currently living in the city of Rome today. But by far the most influential encounters of the past months have been conversations with the community of my fellow Fellows. One example: the other night we were up late and, as the evening inched forward over a game of Uno, we parsed out the nuances between artists and architects: how we're each trained differently to see, experience, and mediate the world. Living and working side by side with such an extraordinary cohort has made being here a remarkable experience!
What new ideas, methods, or areas of inquiry have you been curious to explore or deepen during your residency?
I'm taking my time here. That is in itself, for me, a new method of inquiry that I've been exploring over the past months. I've lately grown tired of living life in fast-forward and the Academy gives space to be mindful, letting the days and artworks and also friendships unfold naturally instead of forcing them in prescribed directions. Thank you for this.