Brook Andrew

Brook Andrew’s matrilineal kinship is from the kalar midday (land of the three rivers) of Wiradjuri, and Ngunnawal on his mother’s father’s line, both Aboriginal nations of Australia, and paternally Celtic. He is an artist and scholar who is driven by the collisions of intertwined narratives, often emerging from the mess of the “Colonial Hole,” and was artistic director of “NIRIN,” the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, 2020. Apart from Brook’s artistic practice, his other current projects include: co-curator of We Are Not All Just Human After All: Care, Repair, Healing scheduled to open in September 2022 at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; International advisor to the Nordic Pavilion being transformed into the Sámi Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2022; Associate Researcher, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK; ARC (Australia Research Council grant) with Dr Brian Martin: ARC Special Research Initiative for Australian Society, History and Culture: ‘More than a guulany (tree): Aboriginal knowledge systems’.

His interdisciplinary practice harnesses alternative narratives to explore the legacies of colonisation and modernism. His artworks, museum interventions and curatorial projects challenge the limitations imposed by power structures, historical amnesia, stereotyping and complicity to centre Indigenous perspectives. Apart from drawing inspiration from vernacular objects and the archive he travels internationally to work with artists, communities and various private and public collections.