Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Brook Andrew is an artist who has exhibited internationally since 1996 and who continues to work with, and exhibit in, major international museums, research centres and galleries. He examines dominant Western narratives, specifically relating to colonialism, placing Australia at the centre of a global inquisition. In doing so, his practice harnesses alternate narratives to assemble new directions of understanding historical legacies of colonialsim and modernist histories. Apart from drawing inspiration from vernacular objects and the archive, he travels internationally to work with communities and various private and public collections.
Creating interdisciplinary works, video, sculpture, photography and immersive installations, Brook Andrew presents viewers with alternative choices for interpreting the world, both individually and collectively, by intervening, expanding and re-framing history and our inheritance. For example, in 2014 he worked closely with the collections of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Museo de America and Museo Nacional de Antropologia for the exhibition Really Useful Knowledge curated by WHW at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia to create a rigorous immersive installation A Solid Memory of the Forgotten Plains of our Trash and Obsessions reflecting on Spanish, British and Australian history and colonialism. His recent intallations and artworks in the context of history and the archive is also reflected in the artwork Ancestral Workship in Artist Making Movement, Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; and The Island for Artist and Empire at the Tate Britain in 2015/16.
Brook Andrew curated TABOO in 20012/13 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney: a turning point in how indigenous and non-indigenous artists and themes are expressed, pigeonholed and determined through stereotyping in colonised socities.
Most recently, Andrew was awarded a 2017 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Smithsonian Institute USA, and just returned from the musee du quai Branly, Paris, as a Photography Residencies Laureate, investigating and making new work surrounding the relationship between the colonial photographer and the sitter.
His other current research includes an ambitious international comparative three-year Federal Government Australian Research Council grant called Representation, Rememberance and the Memorial, designed to respond to the repeated high-level calls for a national memorial to Aboriginal loss and the frontier wars: www.rr.memorial
In 2016 Brook Andrew, with his collaborator Trent Walter, will complete Australia's first official government supported memorial to the frontier wars, where Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheener, the first two Aboriginal men to be hanged in Melbourne, will be installed adjacent to Melbourne Gaol.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
FIne Arts, Bachelor , Visual Arts, Western Sydney University (WSU)
Feb 1991 → Dec 1993
Award Date: 20 Dec 2002
Fine Arts (Research), Master of Fine Arts (research)
1998 → 2000
Award Date: 7 Feb 2000
Research area keywords
- Art
- Contemporary art
- Aboriginal
- First Nations
- Monuments
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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The Space Between Us: Col(lab)orations Within Indigenous, Circumpolar and Pacific Places Through Digital Media and Design
Nagam, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Ledbury, A. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Martin, B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Taunton, C. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Blacklock, F. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Guttorm, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Igloliorte, H. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Marchessault, J. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Lewis, J. E. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Biddle, J. L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Rickard, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Goeman, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Robertson, N. A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Little, N. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Sinclair, N. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ka'opua, N. G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Rakena, R. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Arluk, R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Valkonen, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Keshavjee, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Gilchrist, S. M. L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Partridge, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Andrew, B. (Associate Investigator (AI))
19/05/21 → 31/03/28
Project: Research
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Memory, Material and Cultural Agency
Martin, B. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Briggs, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Andrew, B. (Chief Investigator (CI))
1/07/23 → 22/10/23
Project: Other
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Floating Land: point to point
Andrew, B. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/06/19 → 30/10/19
Project: Research
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Brook Andrew - In Vision of Nuance: Systems of exposure. 2019 Wuzhen Contemporary Art Exhibition
Andrew, B. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
4/02/19 → 30/06/19
Project: Research
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Making Visible the Australian Frontier Wars and Comparative Memorialization
Andrew, B., Langton, M. & Neath, J., 2025, The Holocaust Museum and Human Rights: Transnational Perspectives on Contemporary Memorials. Barrett, J., Alba, A. & Moses, A. D. (eds.). Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 179-214 36 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
marramarra: Indigenous Artists Making History Visible
Andrew, B. G. & Neath, J., 2024, Sydney NSW Australia: NewSouth Publishing. 256 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
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More Than a Tarrang (tree): Memory, Material and Cultural Agency
Moulton, K. (Curator), Neath, J. (Curator), Martin, B. (Curator) & Andrew, B. (Curator), 2023Research output: Non-textual form › Curation › Research
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Reflections on Representation, Remembrance and the Memorial
Andrew, B. G., Langton, M. & Neath, J., 1 Jan 2023, The Palgrave Handbook on Rethinking Colonial Commemorations. Carlson, B. & Farrelly, T. (eds.). Cham Switzerland: Springer, p. 127-150 24 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Decolonising archives: Killing art to write its history
Andrew, B. & Lettau, P., 2022, Curating Lively Objects: Exhibitions Beyond Disciplines. Muller, L. & Seck Langill, C. (eds.). Oxon UK: Routledge, p. 23-35 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
Prizes
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2018 Advance Global Australian Award - The Arts
Andrew, B. (Recipient), 2018
Prize: National/international honour
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File
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Australia Council Visual Arts Award
Andrew, B. (Recipient), 2020
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Basil Sellers Art Prize 2012 - Shortlisted
Andrew, B. (Recipient), 2012
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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More Than a Tarrang (tree) Symposium
Martin, B. (Host), Andrew, B. (Host), Moulton, K. S. (Host) & Neath, J. (Host)
2 Nov 2023 → 3 Nov 2023Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public event
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ARTIST TALK: BROOK GARRU ANDREW
Andrew, B. (Contributor) & Connelly-Northey, L. (Contributor)
13 Mar 2021Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public event
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Form x Content — More than a guulany (tree): Indigenous knowledge systems
Martin, B. (Contributor) & Andrew, B. (Contributor)
10 Mar 2021Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public outreach
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PHOTO LIVE: Brook Andrew and Kate Golding in conversation with Professor Clare Wright OAM
Andrew, B. (Contributor)
22 Feb 2021Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public lecture/debate/seminar
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ARTIST TALK - Decolonizing provenance research: experiences in co-constructing knowledge and negotiating the future of colonial collections: More than a guulany (tree) : Aboriginal Knowledge Systems
Andrew, B. (Contributor), Martin, B. (Contributor), McGregor, R. (Contributor) & Moulton, K. (Contributor)
25 Nov 2021Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public lecture/debate/seminar
Press/Media
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AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW: 'Culturally marked trees take pride of place in More Than a Tarrang (tree): Memory, Materialand Cultural Agency Exhibition'
Martin, B., Moulton, K. S., Neath, J., Andrew, B. & Bonini, M.
24/07/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Review
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BROADSHEET: 'Canoes, Shields and Shade: A New Exhibition Celebrates the Cultural Importance of Trees'
Martin, B., Moulton, K. S., Neath, J., Andrew, B. & Bonini, M.
6/07/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Article/Feature
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THE AGE: 'More than a tree: The dark history of collecting Indigenous cultural materials'
Martin, B., Moulton, K. S., Neath, J., Andrew, B. & Bonini, M.
25/06/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Review
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52artists52actions: Brook Garru Andrew
23/02/22
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media › Social Media Article
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