Art We Love

ART

WE LOVE

Blue is the colour of memory and is associated with water; it washes over me. Waanyi people are known as "running water people” because of the inherent quality of the water in their country. Artist statement, 2007.

Blue is an important colour to Judy Watson and features prominently in many of her works. Watson associates blue with memory, as a conduit for the subconscious. Blue also represents the colour of the coloniser, found in both British and Australian uniforms and flags. In this work, Watson uses bright white paint to highlight three ambiguous shapes on a base of iridescent blue pigment wash. The work can be read in different ways: for example, the large vertical line could represent either a hat pin, an awl or a digging stick, depending on whether it is being viewed from an Aboriginal or colonial perspective. The blue colour used in this work also inspired the exhibition design of Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia; it appears on selected walls throughout the exhibition.

On display at City Hall Wing, Level 3, Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery, Gallery 3.

Judy Watson Waanyi people stake 2010 pigment, synthetic polymer paint, aquarelle and chinagraph pencil on canvas 228.5 × 195 cm The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art Boorloo/Perth © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency, 2022