‘Once We Were Mudskippers’ celebrates the vivid work of Justene Williams

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970; (l-r) A Metal Cry (performance still, Carriageworks, Sydney) 2017; Courtesy: The artist, The Commercial, Sydney, and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne; Photograph: Ashley Barber / Victory Over the Sun (performance still, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra) 2016; Collection: National Gallery of Australia / © Justene Williams

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970; (l-r) A Metal Cry (performance still, Carriageworks, Sydney) 2017; Courtesy: The artist, The Commercial, Sydney, and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne; Photograph: Ashley Barber / Victory Over the Sun (performance still, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra) 2016; Collection: National Gallery of Australia / © Justene Williams / View full image

The riotous work of Brisbane-based artist Justene Williams will permeate the Gallery in a new survey exhibition from 3 October 2026 until 7 March 2027. The largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date, ‘Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers’ explores her three-decade practice with a multi-sensory journey along with ambitious new installations.

Williams’ work is as visually spectacular as it is intellectually layered. Influenced by punk, feminism and improvisation, the artist's practice encompasses performance, sculpture, video and installation to comment on popular culture via the echoes of art history. Williams draws from the visual language of Futurism, Dada, Bauhaus and avant-garde opera to subvert contemporary retail, fitness culture and digital environments to take the audience on a journey not for the faint of heart.

The exhibition’s title, ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’, refers to the small swamp-dwelling fish that can live on both land and in the water, pulling itself from the muddy water to skip across mudflats using its specially shaped fins as legs. For Williams, the metaphor places us all in the primordial swamp together, looking for our own way out with daring adaptability. It captures the desire to escape, but also an acceptance of a sometimes messy, swamp-dwelling life.

Moonwalking Mumma 2024

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / Moonwalking Mumma 2024 / Closed cell foam, aluminium rod, fibreglass and spray putty / 220 x 80 x 250cm / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: The artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / Moonwalking Mumma 2024 / Closed cell foam, aluminium rod, fibreglass and spray putty / 220 x 80 x 250cm / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: The artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne / View full image

She Has No Beginning Or End 2022

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / She Has No Beginning Or End (installation view, Sarah Cottier Gallery) 2022 / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: The artist, The Commercial, Sydney, and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / She Has No Beginning Or End (installation view, Sarah Cottier Gallery) 2022 / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: The artist, The Commercial, Sydney, and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne / View full image

The Worker 2016

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / The Worker 2016 / Felt, wadding, cotton Lycra, plastic, clips / Victory over the Sun, 20th Biennale of Sydney, 2016 / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: Sarah Cottier Gallery

Justene Williams, Australia b.1970 / The Worker 2016 / Felt, wadding, cotton Lycra, plastic, clips / Victory over the Sun, 20th Biennale of Sydney, 2016 / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: Sarah Cottier Gallery / View full image

Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers
3 October 2026 – 7 March 2027
Queensland Art Gallery
Gallery 3 (Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Gallery) & Gallery 4
Brisbane, Australia
Free entry