Jimini Hignett is entirely self-taught. She was born in 1960 in Oxford, England and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. She arrived in Amsterdam in 1984 - via London and New York - and has lived and worked there since.
Her son Flint was born in 1995.

Theatre:
Hignett came to painting through theatre, both as a performer and designer/maker. In the Netherlands she has worked with numerous theatre groups including 'Dogtroep'. Since 1990 she has specialised in making bright-coloured scenery, objects and costumes from wood, cardboard and paper-maché in her own distinctly personal, squint style. Though painting is at present her main activity, she continues to collaborate with performers and create decors and objects for various theatre groups.

Film:
Experiences whilst working as visual designer with the 'Moscow Children's Theatre Estrada' led to the writing of a film script "The Portrait of Natasha" which won the prize for best scenario at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam in1991. The film "The Portrait of Natasha" - which Hignett also directed - has been shown several times at the IDFA Documentary film festival and at various cinemas throughout the Netherlands, as well as having been broadcast on television. Jimini Hignett has also received funding for her other script work, including a stipend from the NCO (governmental commission for co-operation with developing countries) to write a creative documentary situated in Cuba.

Paintings:
Jimini Hignett has taken part in various group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad, and her work has been shown in the Ton Warndorff Gallery in Haarlem (45 works, drawings and paintings) and in Holguín and Havana, Cuba (40 Russian, Dutch and Cuban portraits) where a number of paintings were removed from the exhibition because of their supposed political or pornographic content.