From the Collection: Brook Andrew

From the Collection is a series of exhibitions, commissions and interventions presented in the spirit of Margo Lewers and her desire for her home and collection of artworks to be shared with the people of Penrith and surrounds. We invite artists, writers and people from the local community to engage with the Gallery’s collection, and in doing so, provide fresh perspectives and insight. 

Brook Andrew is an Australian Wiradjuri artist, writer and curator who is driven by the collisions of intertwined narratives, often emerging from the mess of what he calls the “Colonial Wuba (hole)”. 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.

Brook Andrew has a longstanding connection to Penrith, having lived in nearby Blackett and attended Cambridge High School. In 1991 Andrew enrolled in Interior Design at the University of Technology Sydney, but later transferred to Visual Arts at the University of Western Sydney (now WSU), Nepean Campus. In Their graduating year, 1993, his wall-based text piece Naraga Yarmble Bungalgaragara (1993) was awarded the Mary Alice Evatt Prize at Artspace for the best final year artwork in the annual Bachelor of Visual Arts students’ exhibition.

Brook Andrew is represented by Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels. His studio is located in Melbourne, Australia on the lands of the Kulin Nations.