[2] His work examines the constraints and potential in the desire for Indigenous advancement, while challenging existing gazes onto traditional Native culture.
[3][4] Polys is well known for his films, institutional critique, and carved sculptures incorporating materials such as abalone, glass, liquids, resins, silicone, as well as the ready-made.
[3] He was adopted into the Dakl’aweidí Clan of the Jilkáat Kwáan and worked as a visual artist with the names of Stephen Paul Jackson and Stron Softi.
[7] He is the recipient of a 2017 Native Arts and Culture Foundation (NACF)[8] Mentor Artist Fellowship, and Advisor to Indigenous New York.
[3][5] In "Manifest X," a collaboration with Robert Mills, the two artists created sculptures that Tlingit visual traditions while revealing the expansive potential for self expression through these forms.