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Jennifer Herd is an Australian Indigenous artist with family ties to the Mbar-barrum people of North Queensland.[1] She is a founding member of the ProppaNOW artist collective, and taught at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, where she convened both the Bachelor of Fine Art and Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art. In 2003 she won the Queensland College of Art Graduate Students prize, the Theiss Art Prize, for her Masters of Visual Arts.[2]
Herd received a Certificate in Fashion Design from Queensland College of Art, and worked in fashion and theater for twelve years.[1] She then completed her Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) from Queensland University of Technology, followed by a Master of Visual Arts from Queensland College of Art.[2] She taught at Queensland College of Art from 1993 until her retirement in 2014.
Herd's artwork frequently explores themes related to Indigenous experience, tradition, and assimilation, based in her experience as an Indigenous woman born "out of country."[3] Shields, an important part of North Queensland culture, are a frequent recurrent in her work, standing in for strength and protection, and drawing on the traditional practice of decoration performed by women for warriors.[2]
In 2003 Herd co-founded ProppaNOW, a collective designed to "give urban-based Aboriginal artists a voice."[4][5] ProppaNOW's aim has been to work collectively to create new and better opportunities for Indigenous artists working in urban environments.[5]
In 2021 Jennifer Herd was interviewed in a digital story and oral history for the State Library of Queensland's James C Sourris AM Collection.[6] In the interview Herd talks to artist and academic, Pat Hoffie about her life, her art and her inspirations.[7]
