Nicola Jackson: The Bloggs

The Bloggs considers what it is that makes us human.

Nicola Jackson has created her own version of an anatomy museum, filling vitrines and cabinets with a range of curious objects and adorning the walls with paintings of inquisitive characters. Interested in the intersections of science, psychology, museology and art history, Jackson’s work often has an autobiographical element to it. It is also humanist in nature, being about any old Joe Bloggs.

Nicola Jackson was born in Dunedin in 1960 and studied engraving and sculpture at Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury. Her honours year installation An Art Anatomy Room was exhibited in Christchurch Arts Centre in 1981 and The Bloggs continues this research.

She is well-known for her vividly-painted three dimensional papier-mâché sculptures which appear in a number of significant national collections including James Wallace Collection, Te Papa Tongarewa and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Image: Nicola Jackson, Medecine 2, 2016, painted paper-mache