Revisting a lovely essay written by Damian Smith in 2012 for the exhibition Silhouette Australis, which was held at Deakin University Art Gallery:

Judy Holding – Silhouette Australis
Essay by Damian Smith

Judy Holding’s art is inspired by her travels in remote regions of Northern Australia, but the works she chooses to create are not so much a reflection of the unfolding vistas she has witnessed but rather a meditation on how we, as members of an industrialised and modern nation state, relate to the natural environment. Are we inclined through our mythologies and our collective actions to be sympathetic and farsighted in our dealings with the earth or do we see the land as something merely to be exploited? Holding’s works, which are dominated by images rendered in silhouette form, include the reductive outlined shapes of trees, animals, birds, waterholes and clouds. These act as a kind of hieroglyphic shorthand, through which Holding can both articulate her observations and explore the aesthetic dimensions of her subject. Philosophically her sentiments concerning the land and its myriad creatures and plant life have been informed by a number of prolonged personal experiences. A longstanding connection with Aboriginal families in Western Arnhem Land, especially near the region of Canon Hill, has proven significant here. Traditional perceptions of the land as a living and spiritual eco system and one in which we are also a part has clearly influenced her thinking. The symbolic and tangible relations that underscore Indigenous culture and community are seen to be echoed in the artist’s work. Added to this is Holding’s more Westernised training and background, not least of all her interest in design and composition. Hence it is the tensions and concordances between these differing perspectives that delineate the content of Holding’s work, the philosophical issues that drive her artistic practice and the materials she uses in her art.