Known for her psychologically charged portraiture and unmistakably idiosyncratic visual language, Borland creates work that probes identity, transformation, and the surreal with equal measures of wit and unease. Moving fluidly between photography and sculpture, she reconfigures the human form through distortion, play, and psychological tension. Her images and objects hover in the space between the familiar and the uncanny, inviting viewers to reconsider the boundaries between vulnerability and performance, humor and discomfort.
Borland’s decades-spanning career has unfolded across multiple continents and includes major solo exhibitions, influential monographs, and collaborations with prominent cultural figures. Her work is held in important public and private collections around the world and continues to shape contemporary photographic and cross-disciplinary art practices.
After studying photography at Prahran College (Prahran, AU), Borland began her career in editorial portraiture. Relocating to the United Kingdom in 1989, she quickly developed an international profile for her stylized, psychologically acute imagery, including her notable 2001 commission to photograph Queen Elizabeth II for the Golden Jubilee. In 2011, she moved to Los Angeles, where her practice expanded to encompass sculpture and installation alongside photography.
A pivotal moment came with The Babies (powerHouse Books, 2001), a provocative yet empathetic study of an adult-baby subculture. With an essay by Susan Sontag and an introduction by Mark Holborn, the book established Borland as an artist capable of revealing the emotional and cultural complexity within marginal or misunderstood subjects. Later publications such as Bunny (2008) and Morph(2018) trace her evolution from meticulously staged portraiture toward abstraction, soft sculpture, and the biomorphic forms that now define much of her recent work.
Polly Borland (b. 1959, Melbourne, AU) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Borland’s work has been exhibited internationally, with significant exhibitions in Australia, the UK, Europe, and throughout the United States. Notably, her major museum exhibitionPolyverse was held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, in 2018. Selected solo exhibitions include We Are Family, Sullivan+Strumpf, Melbourne, AU (2024); Blobs, Lyles & King, New York, NY (2023); MONUMENTS, Marfa Invitational, Marfa, TX; Nudie, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2021); The Babies, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2017); YOU, Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (2013) and Smudge, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (2011). Selected group exhibitions include Namedropping, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, AU (2024); Polly Borland & Penny Slinger: Playpen, Lyles & King, New York, NY (2023);Inaugural Exhibition, Nino Mier Gallery, Brussels, BE (2021); LA On Fire, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2019) andGossamer, curated by Zoe Bedeaux, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK (2019). Borland has exhibited at numerous institutions: the National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AU; The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart, Tasmania, AU; Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK; and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Publications include MORPH, Polly Borland, Perimeter Editions (2018); Polly Borland SMUDGE, Actar (2011); Polly Borland: Bunny, Other Criteria (2008); The Babies, Polly Borland, essay by Susan Sontag, PowerHouse Books (2001); and Polly Borland: Australians, National Portrait Gallery, London (2000). Her work is in public and private collections, including The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Portrait Gallery, London; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Damien Hirst’s Murderme Collection.