Publisher's Synopsis
Published alongside the most comprehensive UK exhibition to date by Australian Aboriginal artist Judy Watson (b.1959), as part of an international tour developed in partnership with TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Australia.Born in Mundubbera, Queensland, Watson derives inspiration from her matrilineal Waanyi heritage, often conveyed through collective memory, using it as a foil for the archival research that informs much of her practice. The latter spells out an unceasing and institutional discrimination against Aboriginal people, described by curatorial advisor Hetti Perkins as 'Australia's 'secret war'.Ikon's exhibition includes new paintings, video and sculptural pieces - some made in response to visits she undertook to see British sites of prehistorical significance - which consider a more balanced and sustainable relationship between humanity and the rest of the natural world.Exhibition supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Australian High Commission in the United Kingdom.Published on the occasion of the exhibition Judy Watson at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 4 March - 31 May 2020.
