Judy Watson (b. 1959)

Judy Watson is an esteemed contemporary Aboriginal woman artist from Munduberra, Queensland. She now lives and works in Brisbane. Her matrilineal family is from Waanyi country in Northwest Queensland. Her artwork is inspired by traditional Waanyi culture as well as contemporary issues that indigenous people face.
Judy is one of Australia’s most innovative and famous contemporary artists, and recognised internationally. She represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1997, and her work is in major collections around
the world, including the Tate Modern in London. She trained as a printmaker at art school, and often uses natural materials such as shells, clay, and bark in artworks which she sometimes leaves outside to weather. She collaborates with family members to make some of her pieces as well as the wider Aboriginal community.
Her matrilineal link to her ancestors has always been central to her art practice. The hidden histories of indigenous experience, especially women, continue to inspire her. She seeks indelible impressions of past
presences on the landscape. Rubbings, engravings, and incisions all subtly inscribe themselves upon her work. Her etching Big Wet is part  of a series in which she explored the natural landscape of her ancestral
country.