Jackie Saunders – 2020 Winner

Drawing inspiration from her Ngarrindjeri and Wirangu roots, 2020 Dawn Slade-Faull Award Winner Jackie Saunders describes herself as “the child of a salt water woman and a desert dwelling man” and many of her works depict desert and sea creatures she feels an affinity with, especially turtles, platypus, kangaroos and snakes. Her visual work is characterized by a vivid sense of colour and rich surface textures and she has exhibited in several group and studio exhibitions. The Award will help Jackie prepare for her first solo exhibition – at Denton Fisher Jeffries’ Adelaide exhibition space.

A versatile artist, Jackie is also a member of famed girl group The Sisters of Invention and she has performed in a number of major productions including the Tutti Arts/Interact theatre coproduction of Tutti’s Northern Lights Southern Cross at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis USA (2009). Jackie was a 2010 NAIDOC award winner and is an exceptional role model for young indigenous women. (Photo credit: Pavios Soteriou)