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VISUAL ART:JACKIE NICKERSON was born in Boston and became involved in the world of commercial photography in New York when she was in her late teens.

 She worked as an assistant to several photographers in portraiture and fashion, a first class though demanding apprenticeship. She took the next logical step by working for herself in these areas but felt increasingly that there was little of herself in the work she was doing. Her point of maximum exasperation coincided with an invitation from a friend to visit Zimbabwe. Without intending to, she spent several years travelling in southern Africa, accumulating a substantial body of photographs. She went on to spend time in Paris and London, working on assignments. Eventually she looked at the photographs she’d taken in Africa and, prompted by friends, decided to do something with them.