ARTIST STATEMENT
My photo collages are an exploration of memory, identity, and transformation. I weave together fragments of past and present to create connections. Some are deeply personal and contain familial intimacy, while others blend human presence with nature to demonstrate another type of kinship. A strong, yet quiet, resilience is found in both. The juxtaposition of portraits with elements of nature reflects cycles of growth, erosion, and renewal. While heirlooms and blurred family photos suggest a similar permanence and change. I utilize photos, texture, and contrast to highlight the tension between presence and absence and what is remembered, forgotten, or imagined. This created space is where identities blur, time softens, and ancestral echoes can still be heard.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Natalie Jackson is a Peoria-based photographer whose work explores Truth, Beauty, and Pride through striking visual storytelling. Rooted in an art-rich upbringing, Jackson refined her technical mastery in Atlanta, GA, and has since become a powerful voice in contemporary photography.
Her work has been featured in prestigious venues including the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (OH), Limner Gallery (NY), Woman Made Gallery (Chicago), Sona Gallery (Chicago), The Center for Contemporary Arts (NJ) and Fourth Presbyterian Church on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Regional showcases span Galesburg, Macomb, Monmouth, Bloomington, Decatur, and Dixon, IL.
Jackson’s accolades include the 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major Award for the Arts, First Place Photography at the Decatur Fine Art Fair (2019, 2024), Best of Show at Hot CIAO (2023), Sky Art Peoria Awards 2019 and 2021, Award of Excellence Peoria Fine Art Fair 2018, International Open Award Woman Made Gallery 2021 and the Purchase Award at Buchanan Center for the Arts.
Her lens has captured global and local narratives—from the Art AIDS Africa project featured in Black Enterprise, to documenting The Jackie Robinson Foundation and The Lost Boys of Sudan project, sponsored by Jane Fonda. She’s also photographed cultural icons like Freddy Cole and contributed to civic initiatives such as Mayor Rita Ali’s Role Model Project in Peoria, Illinois.
In 2022, her piece The Juxtaposition of Ebony was presented to Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, by Concerned Citizens of Peoria—an emblem of Jackson’s commitment to art as activism and remembrance.
© Natalie Jackson