KIM JADE JACKSON

Ah Athens 🇬🇷

25 Years of Monkeybiz! / Exhibition and my speech….
My mother, Barbara Jackson, didn’t just co-found Monkeybiz—she envisioned it. She saw in a small beaded doll the seed of something revolutionary. Not just a craft, but a language. A way to tell stories. A way to restore dignity, income, and creative expression to a group of women who had long been overlooked.

Her vision was that these works would one day become as iconic as the Barbie doll—not because they were commercial, but because they were cultural. They were alive. They carried soul.

Art was my mother’s language. And Monkeybiz was her way of speaking to the world—not through words, but through colour, through beads, through hands, and through community.

And what’s remarkable is that the energy she infused into Monkeybiz has a life of its own now. It’s evolving. Changing. Growing. That original spark has become a fire—one that continues to ignite creativity 25 years later.

This exhibition is a proud milestone. For the artists whose brilliance shines in every piece. For the women who create from home while raising families. For the people running the organization Mataps, Esther and the team with heart and precision. For the board that protects and uplifts the brand.

I would like to express my deepest thanks to Wendy Fisher, who has truly been a mother figure to Monkeybiz. Her love, generosity, and unwavering support—especially during the most uncertain moments of COVID—have carried us through. I am endlessly grateful for her faith in the artists, her commitment to the craft, the love she brings to every step of this unfolding story, and her far-reaching vision for the power of the arts to transform lives.

But most of all—it’s a moment that reaffirms the soul of Monkeybiz. A soul that smiles. A soul that creates. A soul that reminds us all what happens when vision is rooted in love, and art is allowed to speak.

We are still walking toward my mother’s dream—that one day, every home might hold one of these glorious pieces. Not just as décor, but as a living embodiment of joy, pride, and possibility.

Photo dump 🇮🇱⭕️…..Still landing and metabolizing all the layers of this trip.