Photographed by Nigel Lough
ngadhi / me
Brook Andrew's interdisciplinary art practice is driven by the collisions of intertwined narratives, often emerging from the mess of the “Colonial Wuba (hole)”. His practice is grounded in his perspective as a Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal Indigenous person of Australia. Brook's artworks, museum interventions, research, leadership roles and curatorial projects challenge the limitations imposed by power structures, historical amnesia and complicity to centre and support Indigenous ways of knowing and being through systemic change and yindyamarra (respect, honour, go slow and responsibility).
Brook presents his artwork in Australia and internationally, with research-based museum and public space interventions, and Wiradjuri language being central to his practice. Brook’s museum interventions began in 1996 with Dispersed Treasures at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. The use of Wiradjuri language began shortly after, evident in early works such as Ngajuu Ngaay Nginduugirr (I see you) (1998), an installation combining photographic print and neon text. In 2017, Brook’s artistic career was recognised with a large-scale, immersive solo exhibition – Brook Andrew: The Right to Offend is Sacred at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Recent and current projects include a new multi-channel video, live performances and installation GABAN (2022) in YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal, Gropius Bau, Berlin; solo exhibition ngaay ngajuu dhugul birra (to see my skin broken) (2022), Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris; GABAN: Gunmetal Grey (2022), a solo at Roslyn Oxley 9, Sydney; and participation in Sharjah Biennial 15:Thinking Historically in the Present (2023).
Upcoming projects include The National 4: Australian Art Now (2023), Campbelltown Arts Centre; No Feeling is Final: Solidarity collection of MOCA Skopje curated by WHW (What, How and for Whom), Kunsthalle Wien, opening April 2023; Liverpool Biennial 2023 uMoya: The sacred Return of Lost Things opening June 2023; and a video installation at Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) opening in August 2023.
As a curator, Brook was the artistic director of the First Nations and artist-led NIRIN: the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020). Following this work, he was an international advisor for the Sámi Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), and a co-curator of YOYI Care, Repair, Heal at the Gropius Bau (2022) along with Kader Attia, Giscard Bouchotte, Natasha Ginwala, Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz, under the curatorial lead of Stephanie Rosenthal in collaboration with SERAFINE1369, In House: Artist in Residence 2021. Other significant curatorial projects include TABOO (2012-2013), an exhibition and program of talks, performances and films screenings at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia that brought together Australian and international to respond to ideas around race, ethnicity, politics and religion.
As a leading thinker and researcher in his field, Brook is Enterprise Professor in Interdisciplinary Practice and Director of Reimagining Museums and Collections at the University of Melbourne; Associate Researcher, Pitt Rivers Museum and Associate Research in the Wominjeka Djeembana research lab, Monash University. He holds a DPhil from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford.
In his role as Director of Reimagining Museums and Collections at the University of Melbourne (2022 - ongoing), Brook founded BLAK C.O.R.E, a collective driven by First Nations methodologies, research and cultural practices focusing on walumarra (protection), yindyamarra gunhanha (ongoing respect) and murungidyal (healing in the museum). With Professor Brian Martin, Brook is also leading the Australian Research Council project More than a guulany (tree): Aboriginal Knowledge Systems (2021-2023), hosted by Monash University. In 2019, Brook concluded a 4-year long Australian Research Council grant, Representation, Remembrance and the Memorial. Based at Monash University, this project was designed to respond to the repeated high-level calls for a national memorial to Aboriginal loss and the Frontier Wars.
Brook is Adjunct Curator ngurambang-ayinya (First Nations), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (2023-ongoing), and Artistic Associate of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, where he is curating a major exhibition for 2026 on global Indigenous ways of being.
Apart from leading the forum Indigenous Visions, on 16th April, 2024, during the Venice Biennale (a collaboration between Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne), Brook has presented numerous public lectures, panels and talks, recent highlights include: the March Meeting, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah (2022); Reclaim the Earth at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2022); Oceanic Imaginaries at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2022); Decolonizing Provenance Research conference at Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, Geneva (2021); and Asia Society's Arts and Museum Summit, online (2021).
In addition to his artistic and scholarly practices, Brook established the publishing arm Garru Editions in 2020. Publications include galang 01 and galang 02 (2022), volumes by the Powerhouse-galang, an Indigenous-led think tank, collective and sovereign space initiated by Brook in his role as Powerhouse artistic associate. Dual/Duel (2021), a collaborative artist book by Brook and Trent Walter, was also produced by Garru Editions.
Brook is represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris and Brussels; Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne.