[9] In her work, Redgate draws on conceptual ideas from Science, art history, aesthetics and even politics.
[9] She was actively involved in the early days of the Women's Art Movement in Adelaide during the 1970s, with her work appearing their publications and exhibitions.
From this early series, Redgate has continued to challenge perception of space and push the boundaries of what photography can do.
[13] In large works shown at the Geelong Art Gallery in 2020–2021, she incorporated references to her childhood, including teddy bears and dolls.
The senior curator of photography at the National Gallery of Australia, Shaun Larkin, said about the work:[2]‘It is virtually flawless as a photograph...challenging many of the expectations of what a photograph is.’ In 2005–2006 an exhibition (Jacky Redgate, Life of the System) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (MCA) was devoted to 25 years of her work in photography and sculpture.
[7] In 2008 the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane presented Jacky Redgate, Visions from her Bed, the title of the exhibition harking back to her hospitalisation at age three when she was already imagining images.
[17] In 2012, the Art Gallery of New South Wales presented a survey of Redgate's development from 1980 in an exhibition of her works in their collection.
[14] In 2020 Redgate's photographs were included in the major exhibition of Australian women artists, Know My Name, at the National Gallery of Australia.