Audiences will be drawn into a multi-dimensional, kaleidoscopic world of riotous colour, texture, upcycled objects, moving image and sound when Justene Williams’s major survey exhibition ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’ opens tomorrow at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Queensland Art Gallery l Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines CNZM said: ‘Sydney-born Brisbane-based artist Justene Williams has an endlessly surprising do-it-yourself approach to making art that emerges from a whir of energy and passion.

‘Williams is the ultimate bricoleur, finding fresh meaning and possibilities in the leftover and discarded, perpetually transforming the old into the new in a theatre of dreams that sparks the imagination.

‘We are thrilled to be presenting this major survey exhibition highlighting the accumulation, abundance, curiosity and strength of Williams’s practice across video, sculpture, costume, assemblage and installation from the past 20 years,’ Mr Saines said.

Well-known works by the artist anchor ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’, including Santa was a Psychopomp 2014, in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Tate; Victory Over the Sun 2016 from National Gallery of Australia and The Vertigoats 2021, in the QAGOMA Collection.

Major new works debuting in the exhibition include Spirit box 2024/26, a sculpture evoking the Tower of Babel creating a jarring cacophony of sound and energy with live radios tuned to music, talkback, static and a radio play by the artist; Darwin and the jellyfish lady went to sea2026 featuring the character ‘Jellyfish Lady’ who blobs around in a found boat; Press your ear to hear the susurrus of a coral chorus thrum through your ribs 2026, a colony of coral sculptures inspired by the avant-garde opera costumes of Natalia Goncharova (Russia/France, 1881–1962); and a series of the artist’s ‘emote sculptures’, large-scale figurative forms rendered with lumpen surfaces and dripping resin, that occupy a state of uncertainty as they appear to fall down or rise up.

Ellie Buttrose, Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, QAGOMA said: ‘Justene Williams has enjoyed an immensely productive 30-year practice and has produced some of the most compelling work of her career for ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’.

‘Across her career, Justene’s enthusiasm for the performative has steered her into the creation of multi-channel video installations capturing actions staged within elaborate handmade sets, as well as large-scale installations and operas that reference twentieth century avant-garde art.

‘Her practice is an amalgam of materials and ideas, including references to art historical movements such as modernists’ commitment to making art accessible to all; to reckoning with the speed of algorithmic change; and deploying the absurd to reject social and political doctrines.

‘The artworks often fuse multiple materials in haphazard combinations, with the disparate textures and hybrid strategy making the artworks visually compelling and intellectually curious. This approach speaks to the artist’s belief that alternative futures can be created by drawing upon the variety of resources and historical lessons we have at hand and transforming them with the power of imagination.

‘The exhibition’s title, ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’, refers to the small fish that can live on both land and in the water, pulling itself from the shallow water to skip across mudflats using its specially shaped fins as legs.

‘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,’ Ms Buttrose said.

Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said: 'Bringing together well-known and new work by Queensland-based artist Justene Williams, the ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’ exhibition promises an inspiring experience at the Queensland Art Gallery.

'The Crisafulli Government has supported Justene’s creation of several significant new works for this exhibition through the Queensland Arts Project Fund, which supports Queensland creatives to develop and deliver bold and ambitious new work.

'We look forward to visitors experiencing this unique exhibition, which delivers on our 10-year strategy for arts and culture, Queensland’s Time to Shine, by sharing our stories, celebrating our storytellers and strengthening our state’s reputation as a vibrant cultural destination,' Minister Langbroek said.

A vibrantly illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition and features an interview between the artist and curator, alongside essays by art historian Susan Best, art historian and critic Victoria Perin and researcher and philosopher Stephen Zepke. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a range of public programs and a digital exhibition guide.

The artist would like to personally acknowledge Arts Queensland, Creative Australia, Perides Art Project, Sarazin, Griffith University's Queensland College of Art and Design and Coldesign GRP for the support they have given her to produce the new works in ‘Once We Were Mudskippers’.

The exhibition is supported by Tourism & Media Partner Brisbane Economic Development Agency, via Brisbane City Council, Publication Sponsor the Gordon Darling Foundation and Supporting Partners Allpress Espresso and Dulux. It is presented 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. For more information visit www.qagoma.qld.gov.au