BEHIND THE FIGURES 2026 — THE JUST SAYING PROJECT

BEHIND THE FIGURES EXHIBITION - SEPTEMBER 19 to november 28 2026

Behind the Figures brings together a decade of creative work born from one enduring question: how do women see, carry, and live in their bodies?

Since 2017, The Just Saying Project has held space for women and girls across Mackay region to explore that question - through photography, conversation, research and art. This exhibition gathers the thread of that ten-year commitment into a single room. At the heart of the exhibition is the body image survey, completed by 100 women.

Their repsonse, frank, funny, painful, defiant, form the research foundation of this project. The data speaks to the distance between how women are seen and how they experience themselves, and it anchors every work on these walls in something real.

The works presented are from an open call to visual artists responding to that research. Ten artists from Mackay and Whitsundays have contributed pieces spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media. The exhibition is richer for the breadth of perspectives gathered from the diverse artistic practice.

We endeavour to publish this work beyond the walls to draw on the archive of photography from the decade in lead up, the body image research, and the new work. Together, they trace the arc of the community that has spent ten years saying what it means to live in a woman's body, and meaning it.

The Just Saying Project acknowledges the Traditional Owners of land on which this exhibition takes place and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

This exhbition explores themes of body images, identity, and lived experience. Some works and research content may raise difficult feelings.

Full Research Report Summary

Brigitte Peele

ARTIST

Brigitte Peel is a self-taught artist and the founder of Sunbird Studios & Co in Airlie Beach.
She is known for expressive charcoal portraiture and a realist practice that spans watercolour, acrylic, pastel and sculpture. With more than twelve years in arts education, she runs inclusive workshops for adults, children and NDIS participants, alongside commissions and live event painting.
She sees creativity as a way to build connection and wellbeing, and brings a self-portrait to Behind the Figures: The Tide Within.
Follow Brigitte on Instagram
Isabella Plant

ARTIST
Isabella Plant has spent the past decade making art and helping bring exhibitions and creative projects to life across Yuwi Country, the Mackay region.
She works across many mediums, and most of her work is abstract, with a grungy depth that draws on her experience of growing up here.
For Behind the Figures she has made Have your cake..., a mixed media sculpture that turns the research into a sixteenth birthday party many young women will recognise.

Find Isabella on Facebook
dawn byrne

ARTIST

At 64, Dawn happily calls herself one of the oldest emerging artists you'll meet. She first picked up charcoal and coloured pencils two and a half years ago and has since found her way to acrylic on canvas.
A Whitsundays local of more than twenty years, she is a member of Artists Connect Inc. and has exhibited at the Jubilee Centre in Mackay and the Proserpine Museum.
Dawn is drawn to subjects that stir something in her, from foggy forest paths to trees that thrive in harsh conditions. Her work Courage: Every Woman’s Story honours the journeys our bodies carry us through.
BRIANNA BRETT

ARTIST

Brianna Brett is a Mackay-based mixed media artist whose work explores the female form, women's lived experiences and the divine feminine.
She works with collage, illustration, found objects, natural specimens and text to build layered pieces about identity, transformation, body image and the ties between women and the natural world.
Her work Metamorphosis brings together images of real women's bodies, handwritten reflections and preserved butterflies to celebrate change and self-definition.

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KAHMAIA HAINES

ARTIST
Kahmaia May Haines is an artist of Fijian, Tongan and Australian descent who was born on Yuwi Country and still calls Mackay home.
Their work moves across mediums to question conventional ideas about sex, gender, death, social justice and wellbeing.
Their recent printmaking draws on the Masi and Ngatu (tapa cloth) traditions of Fijian and Tongan women artisans. Kahmaia first contributed to Fabulous Figures in 2018 and returns with Marama Totoka Levu, a pair of linocut and ink works celebrating a non-Western vision of the big beautiful woman.
JANET AMBROSE

ARTIST
Janet Ambrose is an en plein air painter and community-engaged artist whose practice in the Mackay region is grounded in listening, observation and collaboration.
Through oral histories, portraiture and landscape, she has worked alongside older residents, First Nations Elders, Australian South Sea Islander families and multicultural Elders, giving often-overlooked stories room to be heard.
As a descendant of Sephardic Jewish people displaced across generations, she keeps returning to the mangrove as a symbol of adaptation and belonging. The mangrove is also the heart of her work The Space Between.

Visit Janet's website

Brianna Brett, Metamorphosis

Tell us about a moment in the making of this work that surprised you, went wrong, or changed the direction of the piece.

As I shared in my little companion artists booklet I composed, this piece went through many phases. What started with the intention of using photocopies of photographs quickly transformed into a venture into cyanotype. What I lacked in experience in this medium I made up for in delusion and ambition. I fell in love with the cyanotype process, the intention behind it, the precision required to formulate and form the final images. I went through many trials trying to make it work and many times the process didn’t work – I’d go so far as to call them absolute fails. Until the moment I decided the piece was missing one of the most important pieces – my Nana.

Nana left us in January but her presence is still felt all around. She was authentic through and through and was the first to give me the strength to share my own story, because of her ability to always have a voice even when it was tricky or impossible, and inspired me to help other women share their experiences. The second I included my last image of Nan in the collection, everything began working. Every formula became natural and the pieces finally aligned. I couldn’t have done it without Nan guiding me in spirit.

Was there a conversation or reaction at the opening night that has stayed with you?

Honestly my partner’s reaction was my favourite. When he really loves something, he very eloquently states “looks good”, which is his HIGHEST praise and compliment. The work instantly got a “looks good” so I knew I’d done something special. He hadn’t seen me working on the piece, but for him to be proud of what I had created means the world. It’s important to me to have men in my life that see the value of women’s voices, as historically men have tried to silence mine, so to have my partner be proud of my work felt like quite the achievement.

Once this work leaves the gallery, where do you imagine it living, and with whom?

The person who adds this piece to their collection is someone who values women’s stories. You also probably need to be a little bit of a weirdo due to the whole taxidermied butterflies component (weirdos are my favourite kinds of people).

I envision the piece standing proudly amongst a gallery wall including pieces of special treasures and trinkets collected to share the stories of the owner and to reflect the things they care about and love.

Metamorphosis is available to purchase. Visit JSP Gallery before Saturday 28 November or contact us to enquire.

Janet Ambrose, The Space Between

Tell us about a moment in the making of this work that surprised you, went wrong, or changed the direction of the piece.

What surprised me was how much the painting changed through the process of making it. I began by responding to the mangrove and its coastal environment, but as I worked, areas were painted over, scraped back and reconsidered. Instead of correcting these marks, I began to recognise their importance. They became a record of the painting’s own history.

That shifted the direction of the work. The imperfect, unresolved areas began to echo the idea I was exploring through the research – that our bodies also carry evidence of experience, change and endurance. I stopped trying to resolve everything. Allowing vulnerability and strength, absence and presence, to remain together became an important part of the work and ultimately led me to The Space Between.

Was there a conversation or reaction at the opening night that has stayed with you?

I noticed some people were surprised by my submission of a landscape. After explaining the metaphor of the mangrove – how it exists between land and water, continually adapting to shifting tides, salt and unstable ground – the connection seemed to become clear. The mangrove carries the marks of the conditions it has endured, yet continues to grow and hold its place. For me, this reflected the women’s voices within the research: vulnerability and resilience can exist at the same time.

I enjoyed seeing that moment of recognition, when the landscape was no longer viewed simply as a landscape, but as another way of thinking about the body and lived experience. That reaction has stayed with me because it affirmed that the body did not need to be literally depicted for the work to speak about it.

Once this work leaves the gallery, where do you imagine it living, and with whom?

I imagine the work living with someone who first responds to it as a landscape, but then discovers the deeper meaning held within it. I would like it to be somewhere it can be lived with – a home or a quiet space where its meaning might continue to unfold over time. The mangrove is familiar to our coastal landscape, but within this work it also speaks of adaptation, vulnerability and resilience. I hope whoever eventually lives with The Space Between finds something of their own experience within it.

The Space Between is available to purchase. Visit JSP Gallery before Saturday 28 November or contact us to enquire.

Brigitte Peel, The Tide Within

Tell us about a moment in the making of this work that surprised you, went wrong, or changed the direction of the piece.

Deciding how to frame my piece was probably my biggest challenge. I usually frame behind glass, but my usual framer was unavailable leading up to the event. Being a real water and beach themed piece, driftwood immediately came to mind. I used many layers of fixative and spray sealer to keep the artwork protected, and my partner sourced the wood and helped me screw all the various sizes to the board.

Was there a conversation or reaction at the opening night that has stayed with you?

Brianna mentioned that her sister, who is interstate and unable to visit the exhibition, is the water baby of their family. I was very touched when Brianna told me she showed her sister the work via a video call, and she was really impressed, asking her to zoom in on all the finer details.

Once this work leaves the gallery, where do you imagine it living, and with whom?

It is quite a personal piece, but I do hope it finds a happy home with another ocean lover who feels a deep connection to her. Perhaps even in a maternity ward – that would be beautiful, for mothers to ponder their evolution and what lies within.

The Tide Within is available to purchase. Visit JSP Gallery before Saturday 28 November or contact us to enquire.

Dawn Byrne, Courage: Every woman’s story

Tell us about a moment in the making of this work that surprised you, went wrong, or changed the direction of the piece.

When I had to actually put paint on canvas I started to realise this was going to be enormously beyond my skills and I had to learn fast!

I started out with seven figures demonstrating each of the seven words. As I made decisions on colours, the image changed to a single figure in a powerful pose. It all fell into place then and Everywoman was born.

Was there a conversation or reaction at the opening night that has stayed with you?

I was fortunate to meet some amazing women. I’m in awe of their work. The things that stuck with me were that everyone was there to support the artists and each other. Another surprising but comforting thing was that the other artists understand “imposter syndrome”, and despite their obvious skill and experience they all experienced it at times.

Once this work leaves the gallery, where do you imagine it living, and with whom?

I see Everywoman living in my studio to remind me of the lessons she taught me. I look forward to our conversations.

Courage: Every woman’s story is available to purchase. Visit JSP Gallery before Saturday 28 November or contact us to enquire.

What People Are Saying

“Thank you for the phenomenal experience. The exhbition and space are divine. We are so lucky to have powerful women making space for others in our community.”