Judy Watson is considered one of Australia’s major contemporary artists. She co-represented Australia at the 1997 Venice Biennale along with Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Yvonne Koolmatrie. In 2006 her work was selected for incorporation into the design of the Museé du Quai Branly, Paris.
Born in Mundubbera, Queensland in 1959, Judy Watson’s work often references her grandmother’s country around Riversleigh Station in North West Queensland and her evocative paintings convey the beauty of this unique terrain. Her work is sophisticated, layered, beautiful, subtly political and intensely personal. She readily mixes Aboriginal history, elements of her family's past, government documents and everyday objects to provide a glimpse of how Aboriginal people lived and were perceived in the first half of the 20th century. Recently she has also looked to scientific climate research for inspiration.
waterline comprises ten paintings completed in 2011.
Included in the exhibition is a painting of cyclone yasi which caused widespread damage to Queensland towns in February 2011. In this work, Watson emulates the aerial perspective of satellite imagery to show the anatomy of a tropical cyclone with its deadly eye, ring of towering storm clouds and surrounding spiraling rain bands.
In names of natives Watson contrasts current political realities with 19th century history, overlaying a delicate coastal image with the names of Aboriginal people recorded in the diary of botanist Robert Brown. Brown travelled on the ship the Investigator with the English explorer and cartographer Mathew Flinders who is credited with the naming of Australia and the first circumnavigation of it.
Press release courtesy Tolarno Galleries.
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