Three decades of work from Brisbane installation artist Justene Williams will be on display at the Queensland Art Gallery in a new exhibition opening on October 3, 2026.
Once We Were Mudskippers explores Williams’ multi-sensory journey across sculpture, performance and video.
Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines said Williams’ work is as visually spectacular as it is intellectually layered.
“Influenced by punk, feminism, and improvisation her practice encompasses performance, sculpture, video and installation to comment on popular culture via the echoes of art history,” Mr Saines said.
“Williams draws from the visual language of Futurism, Dada, Bauhaus and avant-garde opera to subvert contemporary retail, fitness culture, and digital environments.”
The exhibition includes significant works from leading Australian public collections, along with ambitious new installations which lean into Williams’ practice of reimagining and even cannibalising existing works to create something new.
QAGOMA Curator Ellie Buttrose said the exhibition’s title Once We Were Mudskippers refers to small fish that live on land and in the water.
“They pull themselves from muddy swamp water to skip across mudflats ushing their specially shaped fins as legs,” Ms Buttrose said.
“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.”
The exhibition is in the Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Gallery and Gallery 4 at the Queensland Art Gallery from 3 October 2026 until 7 March 2027. Entry is free.
