Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers

Step into a kaleidoscopic world of colour, sound, sculpture and seriously imaginative upcycling at Justene Williams: Once We Were Mudskippers, now showing at the Queensland Art Gallery until Sunday 7 March 2027.

Spanning more than 20 years of the Sydney-born, Brisbane-based artist’s practice, Once We Were Mudskippers brings together video, sculpture, costume, assemblage and installation in a kaleidoscopic collision of ideas and materials.

Expect the unexpected as found objects, handmade sets, moving images, sound and larger-than-life sculptures come together throughout the exhibition. Williams has a knack for transforming the discarded and everyday into something entirely new, creating works that feel playful, theatrical and wonderfully unpredictable.

Among the standout works are Santa was a Psychopomp (2014), held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Tate, Victory Over the Sun (2016) from the National Gallery of Australia, and The Vertigoats (2021), from the QAGOMA Collection.

The exhibition also sees Williams debut a series of major new works, including Spirit box (2024/26), a towering sculpture inspired by the Tower of Babel. Rather than keeping things quiet, the work creates a cacophony of live radios tuned to music, talkback, static and a radio play by the artist.

Elsewhere, Darwin and the jellyfish lady went to sea (2026) follows the wonderfully strange ‘Jellyfish Lady’ as she blobs around in a found boat, while Press your ear to hear the susurrus of a coral chorus thrum through your ribs (2026) brings together a colony of coral sculptures inspired by the avant-garde opera costumes of artist Natalia Goncharova.

You’ll also encounter Williams’ large-scale ‘emote sculptures’ - strange, figurative forms covered in lumpen surfaces and dripping resin, seemingly caught somewhere between falling and rising.

While there’s plenty of visual spectacle, Once We Were Mudskippers also asks bigger questions about how we adapt, create and imagine different futures. The exhibition’s title takes its cue from mudskippers - small fish that can live both on land and in water, using their fins to move across mudflats. It’s a fitting metaphor for Williams’ practice, which embraces the messy, the unexpected and the discarded, transforming an eclectic mix of materials and ideas through sheer imagination.

The best part? Entry is free, making this major survey exhibition an easy addition to your next South Bank wander.

Image credit: 

Image 1 - Justene Williams / The Vertigoats 2021 / Purchased 2021 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: QAGOMA / © Justene Williams

Image 2 - (l-r) Justene Williams’s Spirit Strider (Emote sculpture) 2026 (installed at The Commercial, Sydney) 2026) / She Has No Beginning Or End (centre, installed at Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney) 2022 / © Justene Williams / Image courtesy: The artist; The Commercial, Sydney; and Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne

Image 3 - Justene Williams / Santa was a Psychopomp (video still) 2014 / Purchased 2019 with support from the Qantas Foundation in 2015 / Collection: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Tate / © Justene Williams

Image 4 - Justene Williams, Queensland Australia b.1970 / Your Boat My Scenic Personality of Space (video still) 2012 / Purchased 2012 / Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki / © Justene Williams

Image 5 - Costumes from Justene Williams’s Victory Over the Sun 2016 / Purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia’s 40th anniversary, 2022 / Collection: National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra / © Justene Williams

Image 6 - A view of Justene Williams’s ‘Strong Woman’ from Victory Over the Sun (performance documentation) 2016 (Purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia’s 40th anniversary, 2022 / Collection: National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra) / © Justene Williams / Courtesy: The artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Gadigal Nura/Sydney

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