Judy Watson - Driftnet

4 December 1998 - 31 January 1999

In the course of her career, Watson has exhibited in venues throughout the world, including most of Europe, the United States of America, Japan, Thailand, India and Australia. She spent a year in France in 1995 as the Moet et Chandon Fellow, and was one of the three Aboriginal women artists to represent Australia in the 1997 Venice Biennale exhibition, Fluent.

Earlier this year, Watson undertook a residency at the University of Canterbury as part of the School of Fine Arts Visiting Artist Programme (funded with the assistance of Creative New Zealand), and three of the works in this exhibition; shoal, kokowai and driftnet; were made in direct response to the Canterbury region. In addition, the exhibition presents earlier works by Watson and a collaborative piece she made with poet and artist John Pule earlier this year.

One large painting included in the exhibition is Maradalen, which was made at an artists' camp in the Maradalen Glacial Valley in Norway.The tawny, mottled surface is patterned with the yellow pigment and charcoal Watson took with her, as well as mud, iron oxide and fishblood which she found at the site. The cracked and thickened skin of the canvas was partially induced by the extreme cold and dampness of the valley environment.

By using materials taken directly from the immediate environment, Watson's painting is not only about the landscape, but of it, creating a convincing and compelling sense of place.

The companion piece to Maradalen, which will also feature at the Annex, is a grouping of four large wooden oars, weathered by time and the exposure to the elements, which were found in the same valley. Watson painted them with found oxide and presents them as tokens of place, in contrast to the slick and superficial souvenirs usually produced for tourists.

Poetic on the surface, Watson's paintings are often political in nature, exploring and highlighting a wide range of issues, including Aboriginal land rights, indigenous identity, environmental concerns and feminism. She uses washes of paint and dry pigments, often related to the area in which she is working, to reproduce the effects of water, earth and stone. The subtle, footprint like tracks suggest the presence of her ancestors in the land. These paintings become like tactile maps of the territory of Watson's Waanyi forebears.

Many of the works in driftnet reveal Watson's prevailing interest in fugitive surfaces, the fading, shifting and staining caused by time, temperature and water.

This exhibition was held at the Robert McDougall Contemporary Art Annex in the Arts Centre.

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