Reconciliation Action Plan

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Reconciliation Action Plan 29 CASE STUDY: ARTWORK COMMISSION CELEBRATING ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER CREATIVITY Opposite: Waanyi artist Judy Watson with tow row 2016, GOMA / Photograph: Mark Sherwood / © Judy Watson Above: Views of tow row 2016, GOMA / Photographs: Roger D'Souza / Images courtesy: UAP tow row 2016, Judy Watson As part of the Gallery of Modern Art’s tenth anniversary, we aimed to visibly acknowledge the contribution of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and the continuous role played by First Australians in the cultural life of this country. The impressive cast-bronze sculpture tow row by Waanyi artist Judy Watson stands proudly in GOMA’s forecourt and speaks of cultural retrieval and community activation. The work was realised as a Queensland Indigenous Artist Public Art Commission (QIAPAC), with generous support from the Queensland Government, the Neilson Foundation and Cathryn Mittelheuser AM through the QAGOMA Foundation. A response to its riverside site, tow row references the woven nets historically used by the Aboriginal peoples of the area, acknowledging the Traditional Owners and their everyday fishing activities on both the river and the local saltwater waterways. These nets, locally known as ‘tow row’, were used to scoop up fish near the banks of the river, and could catch entire schools of fish in smaller creeks, where people would stand midstream during the dropping tide. This use of fibre and water as the conduit for catching fish evokes ideas of sustenance, family, culture, survival. The fragility of the objects cloak their hidden strength, a metaphor for the resilience of Aboriginal people who have held onto the importance of land, culture and family through adversity and deprivation. Judy Watson Through Watson’s contemporary public sculpture, we glimpse the history of the Gallery’s site. The work has also encouraged the renewal of weaving and netting traditions dormant for decades, allowing us to see local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, cultures and traditions stand alongside some of the world’s greatest contemporary art. To meet demands for more immersive and personalised experiences, both on and off site, tow row is also the subject of a digital experience that shares the story of the work’s creation and its connection to Kurilpa and local Aboriginal histories. Learn more about Watson's thought-provoking public artwork at towrow.qagoma.qld.gov.au.