An accomplished feminist video and performance artist, choreographer and dancer who recently moved from Chicago has been seriously injured in an automobile accident in Brooklyn.
Jillian Peña, 28, was hit by a car driven by a 54-year-old man without a license and 11 previous suspensions while crossing the street on foot the morning of Aug. 11. She is in critical condition at New York’s Bellevue Hospital. According to blog updates from her family and friends, she was still unconscious as of Friday, Aug. 15, but no longer sedated. She has had surgery to remove two hematomas”one on her brain and one near her left eye.
Peña recently moved to London with her partner, former Chicago drag king Christa Holka, to pursue a doctorate in performance studies. She is a National Merit Scholar who received her Master’s from the Art Institute of Chicago. She is from New Mexico.
Friends of Peña created a blog in order to provide updates on her condition and recover. See www.friendsofjillian.blogspot.com.