Jacky Cheng was born in Malaysia of Chinese heritage and currently lives and works on Yawuru Country in Broome, Western Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture (Honours I) from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and is a practising artist, facilitator, and arts educator.

Cheng’s practice centres on questions of identity, cultural memory, and belonging, shaped by lived experiences of migration, diaspora, and place. Through material engagement with paper and fibre, she weaves narratives drawn from familial histories, cultural rituals, and memories of home, mapping these against the social and environmental contexts of her adopted landscape. Working across sculpture, installation, and collaborative projects, Cheng navigates the space of the ‘in-between’ — attending to cultural dissonance while honouring ancestral knowledge and intergenerational relationships. Her practice is grounded in slow, attentive making, where folding, stitching, and repetition become both method and metaphor.

Cheng is the recipient of the 46th Fremantle Print Award (2023), Best in Bespoke Design, Design Fringe Victoria (2023), The John Stringer Prize (2022), and The Jury Art Prize (2021). She has been a finalist in numerous awards including National Works on Paper (2024, 2022), the 67th Blake Prize (2022), and the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (2021).

Her residency experience includes Finland (2017–2019), Spain (2018), Japan (2019), Fremantle Art Centre (2021–2022), SPACED (2022–2023), and the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Victoria (2023). In collaboration with Intensive Fields Lab (if/Lab), Cheng completed the permanent integrated public artwork Pleated Histories in 2022. She was also a selected artist for Regional Assembly 2023/24 (Regional Arts Australia), connecting with cultural practitioners across regional and remote Australia, Asia, and the Pacific.

In 2024, Cheng was appointed a Lead Artist for the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial, presenting the immersive installation The Rite of Divination at Fremantle Art Centre. Her collaborative ephemeral public artwork The Calling Over Nagula (2021), created with Michael Jalaru Torres and Vanessa Margetts (MudMap Studio), received the 2023 National Landscape Architecture Award (Small Project category) from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

Her largest installation to date was presented in The Neighbour at the Gate at the National Art School, Sydney, touring nationally from 2025–2027. Curated by Clothilde Bullen, Zali Morgan, and Michael Do, the exhibition explores resonant narratives shared between First Nations and Asian Australian experiences. In 2025, four of Cheng’s works were also featured in Re-crafting Tomorrow at the Cheongju Craft Biennale, South Korea.

Alongside her artistic practice, Cheng’s teaching has been recognised nationally and at state level within the vocational education and training sector, including honours from the Australian Training Awards (2013) and finalist recognition for the Curtin University Teaching Excellence Award (2015).

Her work is held in public and private collections including the City of Fremantle, Shire of Broome, Chevron Australia, North Regional TAFE, and private collections. Cheng currently serves on the boards of Regional Arts Western Australia and SPACED.