Yannima Tommy Watson was a senior APY Lands painter who was born around 1935 at Anamarapiti, about 40kms from Irrunytju Community (Wingellina) in Western Australia. Watson was a Pitjantjatjara man, his skin group was Karimara.
Tommy spent his early childhood and teenage travelling from water hole to water hole, hunting and gathering and learning from his father the practical skills on how to survive on their lands in the arid regions of the Gibson Desert. Watson lost his mother early and lost his father at the age of 7 when travelling from one waterhole to the other, so he was adopted by Nicodemus Watson, his father's first cousin. While growing up he learned to understand the significance of social organization and the spiritual and tribal law teachings of his ancestors.
The fate of Watson and his family and many of the other western desert nomads was sealed with the introduction of assimilation policies. This combined with the severe drought throughout the 1950's resulted in many of the Pitjantjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra and Pintupi Aborigines moving from their home lands to the administrative centres in Warburton, Ernabella and Papunya. The unfamiliar world of the Government settlements was no place for these free nomadic people who were used to a life of unlimited travel. Tragically, more than half of the population of these new communities died.
In his adult years Watson held a series of jobs, including building wells and stock yards at stations, as well as helping put the steel posts on Uluru in the 1960s and 70s. Watson also travelled to the community of Papunya when the pioneers of the western desert art movement first set down their powerful expressions of their Tjukurrpa (Dreaming).
In 2001, Tommy became one of the first indigenous men to begin painting at the Irrunytju art centre. He painted the stories of his mother's and grandfather's country. From the start, he painted intuitively, using large vibrant colourful dots of pinks, burgundy, orange and reds to symbolically represent the dreamtime journeys of the ancient spirits and the significant episodes in the history of his tribe.
By 2002, Tommy had already been honoured with his selection as a finalist at the NATSIAA in Darwin, the peak Indigenous art industry award. Demand for his artworks amongst collectors took off and competition amongst dealers also grew.
In 2005, Tommy was commissioned, along with Ningura Napurrula, Lena Nyadbi, Michael Riley, Judy Watson, John Mawurndjul, Paddy Bedford and Gulumbu Yunupingu, to produce an artwork to be permanently installed in the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, France. Tommy's art is also featured in his own art hotel in Adelaide, named The Watson.
