ARTIST STATEMENT
There’s nothing stronger than the female bond. Be it Mother, Sister, Cousin, Friend, these relationships shape our lives from cradle to grave. They keep our secrets, feel our pain, and share our joy. The bonds I have with the beautiful women in my life continue to lift and strengthen me. With acceptance and respect, through memories and storytelling, we allow each other to survive and thrive.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Truth, Beauty, and Pride are the themes of photographer, Natalie Jackson’s work. They come together to tell gripping stories of Black life, past and present. Having lived in Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Charlotte, she gathered experiences, education, and history and returned to the Midwest. She has worked as a staff photographer for Good News Magazine in Atlanta, Georgia to a medical photographer for Soderstrom Skin Institute in Peoria, Illinois. She currently sits on the Board at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria and the Central Illinois Jazz Society.
Jackson has a studio and gallery in the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria where she shoots, sells, and displays her work. She was a winner of Art Pop in 2019 and Sky Art in 2021. The Juxtaposition of Ebony, was purchased and presented to Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon in January 2022, by the City of Peoria’s Employees for Community Concerns. In October 2022, she was awarded the Purchase Award at Buchanan Center for the Arts, for her piece, Triptych Warrior. She currently has two works in Peoria’s City Hall in the Mayor’s Suite to be displayed until February 2025.
© Natalie Jackson