Water is vital to Judy Watson’s creative process, and it is also the subject of this work. wanami 2019 weaves together earth and water; past, present and future; in layers of yellow ochre and blue pigment. She explains, ‘Water is a conduit for my creativity: I think through water, swimming, washing, showering, pouring and pooling washes of liquid paint onto my canvases and paper . . . When I am immersed in water, I feel connected and alive’.

Long fibres of string float over the watery depths, delineated as if seen from beneath. Watson’s female ancestors wove string like this to wear as a body ornament or use as fishing nets. Each length was rolled along the thigh, picking up hair and creating a kind of material family tree. wanami traces this genealogy as well as the Rainbow Serpent, Boodjamulla, the source of the life-giving waters (wanami) on Watson’s traditional country south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in far north-western Queensland.