Artist Justene Williams' Exhibition Explores Reuse and Transformation

Artist Justene Williams' latest exhibition, Once We Were Mudskippers, at Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) in Brisbane, showcases her ethos of reuse and transformation, even of her own work, over the last 20 years.

In 2024, Williams started creating 'little poos' out of wet, pulped cardboard. "It was as if I was a baker; I started rolling and they were like poos, but they were also quite beautiful, like little bread rolls," she says. "They were simple, primordial shapes. I started to imagine them as little beings that were growing or something."

These 'primordial shapes' inspired the title of her exhibition, which brings together works from Williams' career, including her collaboration with Sydney Chamber Opera on a restaging of Russian Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun, and her Archibald Prize-winning portrait by Julie Frager.

"Justene's interested in that moment when we crawled out of the primordial pond," curator Ellie Buttrose explains. "But also, with everything that's going on, environmentally, politically, it feels like we're almost seeping back into it."

Williams' practice involves radically transforming her own work, often using found objects and recycled materials. "I'll pull bits apart and then I can remake it," she says. "The end of one thing is the beginning of another thing."

For Once We Were Mudskippers, Williams created new works, including a series of Futurist-style 'emote sculptures' inspired by Fortnite. "Some of the sculptures are kind of falling down, or rising up, or they're running," she explains. "I always like when a sculpture already feels like it's moving."

Williams has also created a new opera, A Magical Hotstart, with neurodiverse musicians from Western Sydney's Club Weld, for the opening of Powerhouse Parramatta.

"Art is work; art is labour … Just don't stop working," she says. "It's a compulsion — because you love it. There's some weird need; it's a death drive or something."

Williams' artworks often start with her own body and ideas around performance, stemming from her childhood as an aspiring dancer and later working as a dancer at a theatre restaurant.

"I always wanted to perform in my own work," she admits. "I knew I was never going to be a dancer, because I'm short and all that, so I went to art school."

Her video art, including Santa Was a Psychopomp, features in the exhibition, where they are placed in conversation with other works.

"I think they work en masse," Williams says.

Once We Were Mudskippers is at Queensland Art Gallery until March 7, and A Magical Hotstart is at Powerhouse Parramatta from November 26-27.