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. Watson also inherited the knowledge on how to find water and food within their region.
His paintings refer to his country, Ngayuku Ngura (‘My Country’ in Pitjantjatjara language), representing several sites of importance, such as Walu, Utjuri Pukara and Pikarli. As viewers, we would be mistaken in trying to discern any concrete narratives even though his paintings refer to traditional stories and places. Instead his paintings are abstract meanderings and meditations on colour, always inextricably linked to a spiritual attachment to the land. In this way, Watson conveys the intangible nature of the land and its sacred mythologies. "My grandfather's country, grandmother's country. When they were alive, they would take me around the country, when I was a kid. That's why we look after country, go out whenever we can. See if the rock holes are good"
