Yannima Tommy Watson (b. c. 1935, Anamarapiti; d. 2017) was a senior APY Lands painter who was born about 40 km from Irrunytju Community (Wingellina) in Western Australia. His work, rich in the knowledge of the topographical landforms of his country and the Tjukurrpa law that underlies it, immediately captured attention. He painted the stories of his mother and grandfather’s country.
From the start, he painted intuitively, using large vibrant colorful dots of pinks, burgundy, orange and reds to symbolically represent the Dreaming journeys of the ancient spirits and the significant episodes in the history of his tribe. When he started painting, he was well acquainted with the Papunya Tula painters of the 1970s and 1980s. However, Watson differed from his peers who frequently referenced Aboriginal creation myths, believing instead that painting sacred iconography was sacrilegious and deliberately adopting abstraction as his dominant style.
His graphic, saturated paintings still carry a narrative weight for the artist, however, referring to the histories of his grandparents and their homeland. “I want to paint these stories so that others can learn and understand about our culture and country,” he said. Watson was also recognized as a skilled and subtle colorist: for one work he used 12 distinct shades of red.
His work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia); National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia); the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia); the Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia) and the Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth, Australia).