Justene Williams (born 1970) is an Australian artist. Williams works across different media including photography, video, performance, installation and sound.
Williams has exhibited widely throughout Australia and internationally.
Her works of art are held in a number of public collections including
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...
,
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), formerly the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, is located on George Street, Sydney, George Street in The Rocks, Sydney, The Rocks neighbourhood of Sydney. The museum is housed in the Stripped Cl ...
,
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
and
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions.
Set be ...
.
Life
Williams was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1970.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Western Sydney University in 1991.
She has a background in dance and has also worked as a window dresser.
Williams moved to Boston, USA in 2005, which precipitated a significant shift in her practice.
Williams received her Masters of Visual Art from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, in 2006.
Williams is currently teaching at
Queensland College of Art
The Queensland College of Art and Design (QCAD), established as Brisbane School of Arts and formerly known as Queensland College of Art or (QCA) after other name changes, is a specialist visual arts and design college located in South Bank, Br ...
in Brisbane where she is head of sculpture.
Early art
Williams' early work was focused in the medium of photography and utilised the ad hoc nature of disposable cameras and one-hour printing labs. The locations for these early photographic projects were sites of public recreation such as shopping centres, car shows and strip clubs.
Styles
Williams first became known in the 1990s for her photography. Often her work during this time was produced using disposable cameras with shopping malls and retail displays as subjects, this has been linked to her work in retail during this time.
Australian suburban life drew her attention during this time, including strip clubs and car shows. Later Williams staged more of her photographs. Stylistically, this early period in her career is distinctive for its lo-fi aesthetic with extensive use of blurring and distortion.
After moving to the United States in 2005, where she was unable to work without a
Green card
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...
, Williams' began to construct elaborate costumes in which she would perform in front of the camera.
Elaborate and immersive installation artworks including video and sculpture are the dominant mode of her most recent work, as seen in her exhibitions
The Curtain Breathed Deeply' (2014) and
Handbag Hammer Meditation' (2015).
References to modernism, especially Dada, occur frequently in her work.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
''The Curtain Breathed Deeply,'' 2 February – 2 April 2015,
Monash University Museum of Art
The Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), formerly the Monash University Gallery, is a contemporary art museum on Monash University's Caulfield campus on Dandenong Road, Melbourne, Australia.
History
The Museum grew out of a number of ear ...
''The Curtain Breathed Deeply'', 26 June – 10 August 2014,
Artspace Sydney
Artspace, officially Artspace Visual Arts Centre, is an independent, not-for-profit, and non-collecting residency-based contemporary art centre. Artspace is housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo, fronting Sydney Harbour in ...
''Handbag Hammer Meditation'', 13 September – 19 October 2013,
La Centrale galerie Powerhouse, Montreal
See also
*
Australian art
Australian art is a broad spectrum of art created in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, spanning from Prehistory of Australia, prehistoric times to the present day. The art forms include, but are not limited to, Indigenous Australi ...
References
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Justene
1970 births
Living people
Australian women artists