Jennifer Jackson was born and raised in the Chicago area and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts, with distinction, in Art Education and Studio Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2003.  In 2008, she completed her Masters in Photography at Governors State University, summa cum laude. She is an artist/educator who began her photographic endeavors at a very young age, photographing "the stuff of life" and travels with her family.  When she went away to college she commandeered her mother's camera and never looked back. 

Jackson's admiration for beauty, peculiarity and the sublime, coupled with a desire to follow her intuition, are the inspirations that lead her to document and decode the world through the camera's lens.  Her use of "toy" cameras and alternative photography methods allow for pleasant surprises to unfold during her process.  The camera distorts reality through its imperfect plastic lens while the alternative processes are immune to consistent results. 

Jackson's work has been shown in galleries in and around the Chicago area including: Gallery 180, 33 Collective, the River East Art Center, and the Great Space Gallery at University of Illinois at Chicago, the Oak Park Art League, North Shore Art League in Winnetka and the Visual Arts Gallery at Governors State University.  In 2009, Jackson anticipates expanding her exhibition credentials to locations outside the Chicago area.  She is pleased to begin with the RayKo Gallery in the SOMA Arts district in San Francisco, California.

Throughout her career she has taught beginning and advanced photography, mixed media sculpture and ceramics to high school students.  She is currently teaching at New Trier High School and resides in the city of Chicago with her husband.