Jenna Pickering was a relatively unknown artist until 2024 when she won two awards at the acclaimed Lester Prize for Portraiture Awards for her extraordinary portrait of an Aboriginal man on paperbark. Incredibly, this piece sold at the exhibition for $20,000.
The Lester Prize is the biggest cash prize art award in Australia and one of three leading prizes for portraiture. What makes the Lester Prize unique is that the 40 finalists, chosen from more than 900 applicants from around Australia, are selected with no knowledge of the artist, giving novice artists like Jenna equal chance of being selected. Remarkably, Jenna is just 25 years of age and apart from one semester at high school, has had no formal training.
Living in Tom Price, approximately 1600km from Perth, Jenna is inspired by the stories behind the faces of the people of the Pilbara, which is reflected in the meticulous and precise paintings she creates.
After winning the Lester Prize, Jenna is continuing to explore the realm of using non traditional canvases, and is currently working on projects using paperbark.
If you’re interested in staying up to date on Jenna, and her artworks, she regularly documents the process of creating her works, with a touch of her quirky personality on her Instagram. You can also explore all of Jenna’s work and even purchase some from her website.
About her Art
Jenna’s most impressive pieces include highly detailed oil paintings on unconventional canvases. “Together as one” featuring Yinhawangka elder, Brendon Cook, which was carefully hand-painted on a piece of paperbark (13x6cm, to be precise) was awarded a combined $25,000 prize money for the Tony Fine Foundation Artist Prize and The Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize at the 2024 Lester Prize Awards.
The portrait of another Yinhawangka elder, Ivan Smirke, painted on a feather, highlights her courage to push the boundaries of traditional art and helping her stand out.
In her own words, Jenna states that “portraits are more than just images; they’re narratives waiting to be unveiled”. The details included in her works, from every little wrinkle, smile lines and down to a hair stroke is all an exploration of the nuanced lines of emotions, so that every work tells a compelling story and the natural canvas its created on enhances the artwork’s inherent beauty.
The judges described that “Together as one” told the story of an elder “staring out into the dark, carrying the future of his community with him”. The award solidifies Jenna’s intention to tell a story with her works.
Jenna’s Achievements
As well as winning the Lester Prize, Jenna has gained significant recognition through many awards. At just 11 years old, in 2010, Jenna was a runner up for the Shaun Tan Young Artist Award, which sparked her artistic journey.
