About

Artist Statement

Jiji Saunders is a painter whose practice incorporates installation art, sculpture, photography, and film to support and expand her visual language. Her work explores themes rooted in the natural world—such as hiding, isolation, and the complex tensions between humans and the environment.

Jiji often uses multiple mediums to explore a single theme, presenting cohesive bodies of work through varied forms. In her exhibition Hiding, she imagined and painted shelters and caves, rendering them in both encaustic wax and water on a slate drawing board. The water paintings evaporated within minutes; she photographed them as they disappeared and later transferred the images onto encaustic landscapes. As a final iteration of the theme, she built a life-sized grass shelter inspired by her original paintings.

In another exhibit, Jiji focused on desertification. She painted affected landscapes and installed a six-foot square sand table, sculpting the terrain in glass and garnet sand.

“When I delve into an idea using many mediums, I begin to understand the underlying messages and the next turn in my work,” she says.

Jiji works in her studio on Vashon Island.