Brenda L Croft – Bio

With a diverse career as an artist, researcher and independent curator, Brenda L. Croft has been creating multi-disciplinary, multi-platform work for more than three decades. She is a member of the Gurindji/Malngin/Mudpurra peoples from the Northern Territory of Australia, and of Anglo-Australian/German/Irish heritage.

Her artworks draw on personal and public archives and explore issues faced by contemporary Indigenous peoples and the ongoing impact of colonisation in Australia. Layering text and images, and drawing on historical and contemporary forms of photomedia, she aims to give “a voice to the voiceless, making the invisible visible” by uncovering untold stories that elicit the power of subjective experience.

In 2017 Croft will participate in the National Indigenous Art Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia and the collaborative exhibition Still in My Mind with Karungkarni Art and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, a nationally touring show that will commence at UNSW Galleries. In 2016 she presented the large-scale public installation Sea of Hands at Barangaroo Reserve and was featured in Resolution: Contemporary Indigenous Photomedia at the National Gallery of Australia.

Previous, major national and international exhibitions include a survey exhibition at Art Gallery of New South Wales (2013); Thicker than Water, Museum of Contemporary Native American Art, USA (2013); Making Change, National Museum of China, Australian Centre for Photography & UNSW Galleries, Sydney (2012-2013); Shadow Life, Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre, Bendigo Art Gallery (2012-2013); Evolving Identities, Curtin University of Technology (2011); Light Sensitive, National Gallery of Victoria (2006); Our Place: Indigenous Australia Now, Benaki Contemporary Art Museum, Athens & National Museum of China, Beijing (2004-2005); Australian Perspecta (1999); and a satellite exhibition at Venice Biennale (1999).

Her work is held in all prominent Australian public institutions and collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Library of Australia and Artbank.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including a National Indigenous Arts Award Fellowship, the Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous Award, an Honorary Doctorate in Visual Arts from the University of Sydney, and is currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of NSW.