Judy Napangardi Watson, also known as Judy Watson Napangardi and Kumanjayi Napangardi Watson, was born 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 to her country and lived for long periods at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. These places are rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji, bush plums, yakajirri, bush tomatoes, and wardapi, sand goanna.

Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, for a number of years, developing her own unique style. Though a very tiny woman Judy had ten children, four of whom she outlived. She was a woman of incredible energy; this was transmitted to her work through her dynamic use of colour, and energetic “dragged dotting” style. She was at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri artists; however her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture.

Text copyright and courtesy of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation

In 2007 Judy Watson Napangardi was listed of one of the 50 most collectable artists by the Australian Art Collector Magazine.

COLLECTIONS :

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Flinders University Art Museum

South Australian Museum, Adelaide

Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The Henderson Family Collection, Sydney

Corrigan Collection, Sydney

Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice

Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA

Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland

Artbank, Sydney

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008 Judy Watson Napangardi, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne

2006 Karntakurlangu – Women’s Stories, Alcaston Gallery, Sydney NSW

2005 Karnta Jukurrpa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021 We Choose to Challenge, Coo-ee Fine Art Gallery, Sydney

2020 Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney

2019 Beyond Time, Australian Aboriginal Art, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA

2018 Land and Sky - Warlpiri Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

2008 True Colours, Ladner and Fell Gallery, Melbourne

2004 Colour Power: Aboriginal Art Post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Painting Country, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland

New Works from Yuendumu, Bellas Gallery, Brisbane

Little Warlu, Big Stories, Hot Little paintings by Big artists of Yuendumu, Australia's NT & Outback Centre, Sydney

Dreaming Stories, Indigenart, Perth

Divas of the Desert, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs

Desert Mob, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs

Les Couleurs du Desert, Galerie DAD, Mantes La Jolie , France

2003 Yimi Pirrijirdi - Strong Stories, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne

True Blue Christmas 2003, Framed Gallery, Darwin

The Colours of Mina Mina, Judy Watson and Betsy Lewis, Raft Gallery, Darwin

Kurruwarri Wirijarlu - Big Story, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney

Desert Mob, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

2002 Warlukurlangu Collection, Parliament House, Canberra

Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seatlle USA

Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, One Union Square Lobby, Seattle, USA

New Works from Warlukurlangu, Indigenart, Perth WA

Paintings from Yuendumu, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

2000 Wayuta, The Desart Janganpa Gallery, Alice Springs

Journey to the North West, Palya Art, Sydney

Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1999 Mina Mina, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney

International Women's Day Exhibition, Watch This Space, Alice Springs

Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

1998 Kurrawarri Kirli, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

Art Gallery Culture Store, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

1997 Hogarth Gallery, Sydney

1995 SOFA, Miami, USA

SOFA, Chicago, USA

Bellas Gallery, Brisbane

1994 Armstrong Gallery, Florida

Echoes of the Dreamtime, Osaka, Japan

1993 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne

Northern Territory Art Award, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

CINAFE (Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition), USA

Bellas Gallery, Brisbane 1993 Adelaide Town Hall, (in assoc. with The Pacific Arts Symposium), Adelaide

1992 The Long Gallery, Hobart

Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney

1991 Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin

1990 Women's Exhibition, The Women's Gallery, Melbourne