Judy Napangardi Watson

Born:                 c1925 

Region:              TanamiDesert

Community:         Lajamanu 

Language:           Warlpiri 

Social Affiliation:  Napangardi subsection 

 Medium:             Acrylic paint on canvas. 

Subjects:            Ngarlyipi (Snake Vine), Karnta(Woman), Mina Mina, Kanakurlangu.  

 Judy Watson was born in c1925 at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many 
Warlpiri and other Central and Western Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. 
With her family Judy made many trips on foot back to and lived for long periods at Mina Mina 
and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and GibsonDeserts. 
These places are rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji, bush plums, yakajirri, bush tomatoes, 
and wardapi, sand goanna. Judy still frequently goes hunting in the country west of 
Yuendumu, near her homelands. 

 Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi Watson. She painted 
alongside her at Warlukurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own unique 
style. Though a very tiny woman Judy has had ten children, three of whom she has outlived. 
She is a woman of incredible energy, this is transmitted to her work through her dynamic 
use of colour, and energetic "dragged dotting" style, she has developed a popular and 
distinctive style of contrasting lines of colour with richly textured surfaces. She is at the 
forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri arists, 
however her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of 
place and song in her culture. Judy's Jukurrpa are Ngarlyipi (Snake Vine), Karnta (Woman), 
Mina Mina, and Kanakurlangu.

 Commissions 

Janganpa / Mawurrji Jukurrpa (Native Possum & Mawurrji Dreaming)11 x 1 metre large 
collaborative Canvas for the foyer of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

Collections:

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

AboriginalArt Museum, Utrecht

Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra

FlindersUniversityArt Museum, Melbourne

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

National Gallery of Victoria

SouthAustralianMuseum, Adelaide

Museum and ArtGallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

 Exhibitions:

Selected Individual Exhibitions: 

2005 - Karnta Jukurrpa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne. 

2004 - Judy Napangardi Watson, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.