Jacqueline Jacky

16. Jacqueline Jacky, That Place They Had (Part 2), 2022, watercolour monotype on BFK Rives, 21 x 29.7 cm (each). $200 (each).

That Place They Had (Part 2) (2022), consists of two small size watercolour monotypes, which are a recreation of old photographs of my great nans, filled with a variety of colours. This artwork is a two-part series, which explores the women in my family. Part 2 is especially special as it is where it all started with this series. These photographs are the moments captured of my Nans fishing on the bank on country. Learning and yarning with my mother about the hardship of colonialism on these women, and how they persevered is important for myself and my mother to talk about. These women had this place where everything could be okay, as I hoped it would be and there was such a place of freedom on country for them. During this series, I always asked myself, “why is it that we are meant to feel and be seen as not at home in our own country, uneducated, undervalued and not beautiful, as black women?”. I started to take that feeling and questioning away with the act of yarning and learning with my mother about all the brilliant women in my family and all Indigenous women, how they persevered in times of absolute hardship. So today when you see this artwork of Mona Lisa Fernando, and Kathleen Murray Butler, remember their place on the riverbank was their place of rest, their calling to country, just remember that place they had.

Jacqueline Jacky is a proud Gamilaroi and Dunghutti woman born and raised in the Eora nation. She has been studying for the past 4 years at UNSW Art and Design, having learnt a significant number of skills and techniques. Her practice consists of a variety of different mediums and concepts, such as screen-print, printmaking (watercolour monotypes and linocut), textiles, moving image and writing. Her practice is concerned with concepts of storytelling, identity, Indigenous politics, colonialism, environments, place, act of acknowledgement and archival history.

Overall, Jacky’s practice is surrounded by her everyday life and relationships she’s made, those being people, culture and country. In her spare time she loves to take nanna naps, ocean swim, be in nature, laugh, yarn, create, watch movies, and be with mob. All these everyday enjoyments make her who she is and the art she’s producing for the world.