Peter Hudson is a landscape and portrait painter living and working in Maleny. 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. Hudson exhibits regularly, has won a number of regional art prizes, and is represented in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and Parliament House, Brisbane, among others.

His recent exhibition at the USC, The mystery of being here, is the most significant solo presentation of his work so far and responds to Hudson’s overarching interest in our relationship to the world around us. The exhibition was accompanied by a beautifully designed monograph with contributions by Christine Toussainte Morrow, Carol Schwarzman, Jeff McMullen, Charlie Ward and Kev Carmody.