mt cooee

Artist Judy Watson (born 1959)

Date2005

Object number00054581

NamePainting

MediumCarbon and acrylic on canvas

DimensionsOverall (Unframed): 1945 × 1405 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA painting by Judy Watson titled 'mt cooee'. The sinuous contour lines that inscribe Mount Cooee suggest topographical maps and a scientific record of place, reflecting ways in which early explorers such as Cook used mapping to gain an understanding of the land. Seen from another perspective the warm ochre washes and radiating concentric lines evoke an earthy, living landscape, red with lifeblood. An energised environment interconnected with the culture, life and law of Indigenous people. Mount Cooee is one of the eleven hills/mountains that form the Glass House Mountains group in Queensland. This range was named by James Cook in May 1770 after the glass factories in Yorkshire, England.History"I recall the shadowy significance of the Glass House Mountains throughout my childhood, driving past their dramatic presence, looming above us as we travelled to visit my father's family at Burrum Heads – guardian forms that observed and remained, ancestors commanding respect. I was interested in how when Cook first saw them on the horizon they seemed significant and made an impact upon him, provoking something in his memory of the place from which he'd come. I have deliberately combined two perspectives within the work, the device of Eurocentric cartography and Aboriginal colours of ochre that echo the stain of the volcanic earth, spiralling out from the centre to the edges. I was thinking of the geological history of these weathered forms, volcanic plug remnants of a fiery past." - Judy Watson, East Coast Encounter. This work by Judy Watson was produced for East Coast Encounter, a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lieutenant James Cook and his crew with Indigenous people in 1770. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The East Coast Encounter project asked artists to re-envisage this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brought these events into the present by incorporating artists' reflections on their relevance today, and their responses to visits to significant contact locations. Topics such as encounter, impact, differing perspectives, nature and culture and views of country are investigated. SignificanceThis image by Judy Watson forms part of the East Coast Encounters exhibition and gives a unique Indigenous perspective of first contact and European occupation of Australia.