Polly Townsend (b.1977) lives and works in London. She completed an MA at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2001.

Townsend has travelled to some of the most remote, hostile landscapes on earth for her work, focusing on mountain, plateau, and desert regions. In 2023, she was awarded the position of Artist in Residence in Antarctica, and she has twice been selected for the National Park Artist-in-Residence schemes (to Death Valley and Badlands National Park). Independently, and often solo, she has made expeditions to the Himalaya, Pamir, Tian Shan, Andes, Pyrenees, and Apennines Mountain ranges, and travelled throughout Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, China, USA, and parts of South America.

Townsend has exhibited widely throughout the UK and USA. She has several paintings in the Permanent Collection of the Department of State, USA, with works currently on display in Beijing, Karachi, and Mumbai. She also has work in the National Parks Collection, USA, The Alpine Club Collection UK (where she is an associate member), the Ben Uri Collection and, later this year, The Royal Navy Collection and The Scott Polar Research Institute Collection (where she was recently elected onto the Friends Committee).

In 2024, Townsend won 2nd Prize at The International Derwent Drawing Competition and was shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize.