 |
 |
 |
Tommy Watson
c. 1930's
Region: Irunytju – Western Australia
Language: Pitjantjatjara
Tommy Watson was born c. 1935 in Anamarapiti which is near the community of Irrunytju in Western Australia. Tommy Watson lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle with his family, walking across his country and maintains strong links with his traditional lands and sacred sites, painting stories from both his mother’s country south west of Warakurna and his grandfather’s country. Tommy spent his twenties as a stockman in the deserts around Mt Ebenezer 200 kilometres east of Uluru and Yuendumu. He later returned to his homelands to live a largely traditional indigenous lifestyle of ceremony and being connected to land. Watson’s country, is an area of some 400 square kilometres and extends from Uluru south west to his birth place 75 kilometres from Irrunytju. He is a senior Pitjantjatjara elder, (Karimara skin group).
Tommy Watson was first taught to paint at Irrunytju Community Arts Centre, and has become one of Australia’s most distinguished Indigenous artists. He is one of eight Australian indigenous artists whose work was selected for permanent exhibition at the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris in 2007.
