She considers the imagined, hollowed-out indentations as shadows, left in the ground, where objects have been removed. In these works she transposes object images onto plans and drawings of the British Museum. She produced the 6 prints in early 2015 after viewing artefacts in the British Museum acquired from Brisbane as well as near her Aboriginal family’s country in north-west Queensland. In this series of works Watson considers the lives of Aboriginal objects in museums. In this case, the skeletons refer to those small toy skeletons attached to the cloak of the Aboriginal protester AM Fernando as he toured Europe speaking of atrocities being committed against his people back in Australia. The title was inspired by Hetti Perkins’s essay in which she wrote about Watson’s work: ‘Our bones in your collections … our hair in your collections … our skin in your collections.' Judy Watson: Blood Language, a monograph by Judy Watson and Louise Martin-Chew, was published by The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing in 2009. It features engraving, pigment and light on sandstone that has been unearthed from the site. Her works, living well, murri kitchen and fragments have been installed in the grounds of the Townsville Hospital, while NGARUNGA NANGAMA: calm water dream has been installed at 200 George Street, Sydney. In addition, museum piece and two halves with baler shell (2006) are on display at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris. Watson has received major public art commissions including wurreka (2000), a 50-metre etched zinc wall for the Melbourne Museum walama forecourt (2000), a sculptural installation of woven steel screens and upturned bronze dilly bags at Sydney International Airport ngarrn-gi land/law (2002), a 50-metre etched zinc wall at the Victorian County Court, Melbourne heart/land/river (2004,) a large photographic and light piece on glass, installed in the foyer of the Brisbane Magistrates Court fire and water (2007), a bronze, granite, steel, reeds and sound piece installed at Reconciliation Place, Canberra. Her work is held in major Australian and international collections including: the National Gallery of Australia all Australian state art galleries the Taipei Fine Arts Museum the St Louis Art Museum The British Museum the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University The Library of Congress, Washington, DC the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia as well as important private collections. In 2012 she exhibited at the Sydney Biennale. In 2011 her exhibition waterline was exhibited at the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC. She has exhibited widely over the past 25 years. She co-represented Australia at the 1997 Venice Biennale, was awarded the Moët & Chandon Fellowship in 1995, the National Gallery of Victoria’s Clemenger Award in 2006 and, in the same year, the Works on Paper Award at the 23rd National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards. Her Aboriginal matrilineal family are from Waanyi country in north-west Queensland. Judy Watson is the recipient of the 2015 Australia Council Visual Arts Award (artist).
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