Title
red tides
1997
Artist
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Queensland
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Australia
- Date
- 1997
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- pigment and pastel on canvas
- Dimensions
- 187.0 x 112.8 cm
- Credit
- Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1999
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 100.1999
- Copyright
- © Judy Watson/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Judy Watson
Works in the collection
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About
The title comes from newspaper reports of red algae blooms appearing in Sydney Harbour because of too much nitrogen in the water. Watson associated the deadly red blooms with whaling and the sites of Aboriginal massacres where the waters turned red with blood. The work was created for the 1997 Biennale in Venice, another water city where the 'sound of the water is everywhere, especially at high tide, you can hear the waves against the buildings, licking history away'. Her work is about 'memories washing over me', whether the tidal flow of stories from her grandmother's country in Queensland or the history of her Sydney Harbour home - the recurring wash of private and public memory.
Peter Emmett, 'Sydney: metropolis, suburb, harbour', 2000
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Places
Where the work was made
Queensland
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Audio
red tides - Judy Watson 1:41
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Exhibition history
Shown in 9 exhibitions
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 15 Jun 1997–09 Nov 1997
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Dec 1997–15 Feb 1998
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, 13 Mar 1998–03 May 1998
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, South Bank, 05 Jun 1998–05 Jul 1998
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 17 Jul 1998–06 Aug 1998
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Tandanya, Adelaide, 26 Aug 1998–08 Nov 1998
Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997, Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 20 Nov 1998–31 Jan 1999
Harbour, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 05 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
sacred ground beating heart: works by Judy Watson 1989 - 2002, John Curtin Gallery, Bentley, 26 Sep 2003–09 Nov 2003
The Dreamers (2009-10), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 May 2009–15 Aug 2010
Our spirits lie in the water, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 2014–01 Nov 2015
When silence falls, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Dec 2015–29 May 2016
Judy Watson, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Nov 2018–17 Mar 2019
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023
mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 23 Mar 2024–11 Aug 2024
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Bibliography
Referenced in 8 publications
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Peter Emmett, Sydney: metropolis, suburb, harbour, 'Harbour', pg. 123-124, Glebe, 2000, 141 (colour illus.), 142.
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Jennifer Isaacs, Art and Australia (Vol. 39, No. 4), '1970-2001: International exposure of Aboriginal art', pg. 548-557, Sydney, Jun 2002-Aug 2002, 551 (colour illus.).
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Michael Lynch and Hetti Perkins, Fluent, La Biennale di Venezia 1997 Australia, Sydney, 1997, (colour illus.), 46. cat. no. 11
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Hetti Perkins., Contemporary Aboriginal art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund, 'Gifted Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund', Sydney, 2006, (colour illus.). not paginated
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Hetti Perkins and Margie West, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Judy Watson in conversation’, pg. 304-309, Sydney, 2007, 308 (colour illus.).
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Hetti Perkins, Art + soul: a journey into the world of Aboriginal art, 'Home + away', pg. 1-86, Carlton, 2010, 42, 43 (colour illus.), 278.
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Ted Snell, sacred ground beating heart: works by Judy Watson 1989 - 2003, Perth, 2003, 47 (colour illus.), 50, 68.
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Jill Sykes, Look, 'art + soul: bringing remote cultural riches to a gallery or screen near you', pg. 28-31, Sydney, Sep 2010, 30, 31 (colour illus.).
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