Tommy Watson Yannima is a senior Pitjantjatjara elder, from the Karimara skin group, born around 1935 at Anamarapiti, a homeland 44 kilometres west of the present day community of Irrunytju in Western Australia.

As a young man Watson lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle with his family, walking thousands of kilometres from waterhole to waterhole. During this time he acquired a lot of traditional knowledge and practical skills about surviving in the desert. He learned to understand the importance of tribal teachings about relationship of country to men’s Tjukurpa.  Tjukurpa refers to the creation period, the Dreamtime, when ancestral beings created the world as we know it. In these stories lie the basis for the religion, law and moral systems of the Aboriginals of Australia.

Before he started to paint for Irrunytju Arts in 2002, Tommy Watson spent a period in his twenties as a stockman in the deserts around Mount Ebenezer, 200 kilometers east of Uluru and then Yuendumu. He later returned to his homelands to live a largely traditional indigenous lifestyle where ceremony and being connected to land and his culture were very important.

Today, Tommy Watson still maintains strong links with his traditional lands and sacred sites. He paints ancestral stories from both his mother’s country south west of Warakurna and grandfather’s country. Trough his art Tommy Watson is symbolically passing on very important cultural knowledge.

Interestingly, Tommy Watson keeps the sacred meanings of his paintings private, and like Emily Kame Kngwarrreye, is not forthcoming about their personal spiritual meaning. His paintings might be described in abstract expressionist terms as exploiting a virtual 'geography of sensation'. The colors and abstract shapes are stunningly beautiful.

Tommy Watson’s emergence as an artist is almost unique within Australian indigenous art. With a professional career of no more than seven years and no formal training in painting except for that which he initially received at the Irrunytju Community Arts Centre, his work has captured the hearts and minds of collectors all around the world. As one of Australia’s most distinguished Indigenous artists he has paintings in both major Australian and international collections.

It is therefore no wonder that he was one of eight Australian indigenous artists to be celebrated for their high achievement as artists by selecting his work for permanent exhibition at the prestigious Musee de Quay Branly in Paris in 2007.

In Australia, the confirmation of his extraordinary talent was achieved when his Waltitjata set an all time record for the work of a living aboriginal artist when it was sold for $240,000 at an auction in 2007.

McGregor, Ken & Zimmer, Jenny, Yannima Tommy Watson, MacMillan Art Publishing, 25 okt. 2010

2010 Irrunytju Artists, Agathon Galleries, Sydney
2009-2010 Emerging Elders – honouring senior Indigenous artists , National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2009 Kutu Wara (The Last One), Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries Sydney
2009 Nganmapa Ngura (My Country) Irrunytju Artists, Linton and Kay Fine Art, Perth
2009 New Works: South Western Desert Art of Australia, Agathon Galleries Sydney, Melbourne
2009 Nganampa Tjukurpa: South Western Desert Art of Australia’, Agathon Galleries Sydney
2009 Agathon Galleries Sydney, Melbourne
2008 Agathon Galleries Sydney, Melbourne
2008 Lismore Gallery
2008 2003, 2002 Selected for Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award 
2007 Musee du Quai Branly, Paris (permanent exhibition)
2007 One Sun, One Moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, NSW
2007 Tommy Watson, Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries, NSW
2007 Senior Irrunytju Artists, Agathon Galleries, VIC 
2007 Irrunytju Fundraiser Exhibition Agathon Galleries, NSW 
2006 Tommy Watson, Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries, VIC
2006 Landmarks, National Gallery of Victoria, VIC
2006 Musée du Quai Branly  Paris, France
2005 Tommy Watson, Agathon Solo Exhibition, Sydney NSW
2005 Cairns Regional Art Gallery, QLD
2005 Wollongong City Art Gallery, NSW
2005 Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Gallery, VIC
2005 Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), Vivien Anderson Gallery, VIC
2005 Senior Irrunytju Men, Aboriginal and Pacific Gallery, NSW
2004  Colour Power: Aboriginal Art post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, VIC
2004 NATSIAA – Celebrating 20 Years, National Archives of Australia, ACT
2004 Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, SA
2002/2003/2008 Finalist in Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards

• Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
• Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth
• South Australian Art Gallery, Adelaide
• Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
• Elizabeth and Colin Laverty, Sydney
• Patrick Corrigan, Sydney
• Auscorp, Sydney