Peter Hudson

Peter Hudson (b. 1950), is a landscape and portrait painter who lives and works in Maleny, Queensland. Since the late 1990s he has explored aspects of the natural world, astronomy, mythology, and history to investigate ‘the deep mystery of existence and us being here’. In 1998, he made the first of many trips to the Aboriginal communities of Daguragu and Kalkarinji in Gurindji country in the Northern Territory. The Gurindji people, their land, and the story of the Wave Hill walk-off have been major influences on his work, and led him to his current interest in portraiture. He illustrated the children’s book of the 2008 song by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’, making portraits of Kelly and Carmody as well; one of his portraits of Kelly was a finalist in the 2007 Archibald Prize. Since then he has illustrated the books of Shane Howard’s song ‘Solid Rock’, making a portrait of Howard along the way, and Neil Murray’s ‘My Island Home’. Hudson exhibits regularly, has won a number of regional art prizes, and is represented in the collections of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and Parliament House, Brisbane, among others. The National Portrait Gallery holds his portraits of Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Neil Murray and Chad Morgan.