Zo Penina Baker (they/them) is a queer, disabled, Jewish-American, Ashkenazi artist exploring themes of memory, aging, objecthood, Jewish culture , history and tradition, and gender identity through social sculpture, interactive installation, textiles, baking, painting, and storytelling. Born and raised in Queens, New York, Zo received their BFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz in 2015 and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021. They currently live in Providence, Rhode Island.
Using interviews and social spaces like hands-on workshops and Shabbat dinners to collect stories from their peers, Zoe seeks to consider moments in Jewish life that investigate our often complicated, intersectional identities. Interested in exploring ideas about collecting and personal identity through objects, and domestic spaces, Zoe collects materials from their own life, the lives of their peers, and their surroundings to develop archives of personal stories and ephemera exploring themes of memory, Jewish identity, and coming of age.
Zo’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Vice Magazine, Digest Magazine, Pink Monkey Magazine, The Times of Israel, and the Covenant Foundation’s Sightline Journal where they were recently named one of “12 Jewish Artist-Educators You Should Know.”
They were recently awarded the Louis Schwarz and Elaine Friedman Schwartz Memorial Fund Award in Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and a Sachs Grant for Arts Innovation to continue work on their ongoing project, “Calling Home.”
email: zpeninabaker@gmail.com
instagram: @zo__baker