Brenda L Croft

Croft was born in 1964 in Perth and is from the Gurindji, Malngin and Mudburra peoples, as well as having Anglo-Australian/German/Irish/Chinese heritage.{{Cite web|url=https://nga.gov.au/Retake/artists/00000002.htm|title=- Brenda L. CROFT|website=nga.gov.au|access-date=2018-08-31}}{{Cite news|url=https://bmamag.com/entertainment-guide/brenda-l-croft-heart-in-hand-2018-07-22/|title=Brenda L Croft: Heart-In-Hand|date=2018-07-18|work=BMA Magazine|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-AU}} She is the daughter of Joseph (Joe) Croft.{{Citation |last=Croft |first=Brenda L. |title=Joseph (Joe) Croft (c. 1925–1996) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/croft-joseph-joe-32006 |access-date=2024-04-12 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}

She completed the first year of a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sydney College of Arts, University of Sydney in 1985. The degree remained incomplete when Croft commenced voluntary work in community activism and public radio (Radio Redfern/Radio Skid Row, 88.9 FM) in the lead-up to the Australian Bicentenary in 1988.

She was awarded a Master of Art Administration at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney in 1995.

From 2009 to 2011 Croft was senior lecturer of Indigenous art, design, and culture at the University of South Australia. From 2012 to 2015 Croft was a senior research fellow (Discovery Indigenous Award) with the National Institute for Experimental Art, UNSW Art & Design.{{Cite web|url=https://daao.org.au/bio/brenda-l-croft/biography/|title=Brenda L Croft b. 1964|last=Allas|first=Tess|date=2009|website=Design and Art Australia Online|access-date=31 August 2018}}

In 2018 she was appointed as Associate Professor, Indigenous Art History and Curatorship at the Australian National University.{{Cite web|url=http://soad.cass.anu.edu.au/news/soad-cahat-welcomes-brenda-l-croft|title=SOA&D and CAHAT welcomes Brenda L Croft|date=28 February 2018|access-date=31 August 2018}}

File:Croft "Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove)".jpg clans, titled Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove), Sydney, 2000{{Cite web|url=http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/culture/indigenous/display/23330-wuganmagulya-farm-cove|title=Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove)|website= Monument Australia|access-date=15 April 2020}}]]

Croft was a founding member of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative in 1987.

Croft has worked as an arts administrator and curator at local, regional, state, federal and international levels since 1990. From 1999 to 2001 she was curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia; from 2002 to 2009 she was senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia.{{cn|date=April 2020}}

Curatorial projects include Beyond the pale: Contemporary Indigenous Art, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art for the 2000 Adelaide Festival of Arts; Culture Warriors (National Indigenous Art Triennial), National Gallery of Australia; Stop(the) Gap: International Indigenous art in Motion for the 2011 Adelaide International Film Festival; A Change is Gonna Come: 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum (Aboriginals) and 25th anniversary of the Mabo Decision, National Museum of Australia, 2017.{{cn|date=April 2020}}

Her practice-led doctoral research project included the collaborative exhibition, Still in my Mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality, UNSW Galleries, UQ Art Museum, 2017, touring nationally until late 2021. Solo exhibitions include Heart-in-hand, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 2018; subalter/N/ative Dreams, Stills Gallery, Sydney; Peripheral Vision, Artplace, Perth (2005), Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (2006); Man about town, Stills Gallery, Sydney, (2003), Niagara Galleries, Melbourne (2004); fever (you give me), Stills Gallery, Sydney (2000); In my mother's garden, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne (1998); In My Father's House, Australian Centre for Photography, Paddington, (1998).{{cn|date=April 2020}}

Croft has also worked with Eastern Arrernte/Kalkadoon independent curator, arts administrator and writer, Hetti Perkins, on curatorial projects, including the Australian Indigenous Art Commission for the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France, (2006); and the Australian exhibition at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997,{{Cite web|url=http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/venice-biennale-timeline/|title=Venice Biennale Timeline |website=Australia Council of the Arts|access-date=2018-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411102059/https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/venice-biennale-timeline/|archive-date=11 April 2019}} fluent: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yvonne Koolmatrie & Judy Watson, and was co-curated by Hetti Perkins, Croft and Victoria Lynn. It was commissioned by Michael Lynch.{{cn|date=April 2020}}

In 2023, it was announced that Croft will serve as the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University in 2024, working with the Departments of History of Art and Architecture, and Art, Film, and Visual Studies.{{Cite web|url=https://the-riotact.com/anu-professor-to-bring-personal-stories-purpose-to-prestigious-harvard-posting/704778|title=ANU professor to bring personal stories, purpose to prestigious Harvard posting|work=RiotACT|access-date=2023-10-03|language=en-US}}

In 1996 Croft was the first Australian to receive the Chicago Artists International Program grant. She also was awarded the 1997 Australia Council for the Arts Greene Street Studio in New York; the 1998 Indigenous Arts Fellowship from the NSW Ministry for the Arts; an Alumni Award from UNSW in 2001; a 2015 Australia Council for the Arts National Indigenous Arts Award Fellowship; a Canberra Critics Circle Visual Arts Award for heart-in-hand in 2018; and the ANZ Best Indigenous Writing award for her practice-led doctoral research essay Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality in 2018.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cityartsydney.com.au/artwork/wuganmgulya-farm-cove/|title=Wuganmgulya (Farm Cove) - City Art Sydney|work=City Art Sydney|access-date=2018-08-31|language=en-US}}

Croft was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Visual Arts) from the University of Sydney in 2009.{{Cite web|url=http://sydney.edu.au/arms/archives/history/HonCroft.shtml|title=Honorary awards - ARMS - The University of Sydney|last=Services|first=Archives and Records Management|website=sydney.edu.au|access-date=2018-08-31}}

Croft was named Visual Artist of the Year in the Deadly Awards 2013, which were the annual awards recognising Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement.{{Cite news|title='Inspirational' O'Shane honoured at Deadlys|last=Vincent|first=Peter|date=11 September 2013|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=6}} She won the Works on Paper Award at the 2023 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.{{Cite news |last=Spina-Matthews |first=Sarah |date=2023-08-11 |title=Queenland 'master of carving' takes out Australia's top Indigenous art prize |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-11/keith-wikmunea-winner-natsiaa-darwin/102718644 |access-date=2023-08-12}}

Artwork by Croft has been exhibited in galleries throughout Australia, and overseas including Germany, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA.{{Cite web|url=https://daao.org.au/bio/brenda-l-croft/events/|title=Brenda L Croft Exhibitions|website=Design & Art Australia Online|access-date=31 August 2018}} Her work has been collected by the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales,{{Cite web|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/brenda-croft/|title=Brenda L Croft :: Art Gallery NSW|website=www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au|access-date=2018-08-31}} the Art Gallery of West Australia,{{Cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/six-seasons-outside.asp|title=The Art Gallery of Western Australia Website|last=Australia|first=The Art Gallery of Western|website=www.artgallery.wa.gov.au|access-date=2018-08-31}} the National Gallery of Victoria{{Cite web|url=https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/10933/|title=Brenda L. Croft {{!}} Artists {{!}} NGV|website=www.ngv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU|access-date=2018-08-31}} and the National Portrait Gallery.{{Cite web|url=https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/brenda-l-croft-1964|title=Brenda L. Croft, National Portrait Gallery|website=www.portrait.gov.au|access-date=2018-08-31}} Her sculptural work, Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove), was installed at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, as part of the 2000 Sydney Sculpture Walk program.

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Category:Living people

Category:Australian photographers

Category:University of Sydney alumni

Category:University of New South Wales alumni

Category:1964 births

Category:Australian women curators

Category:Australian Aboriginal artists

Category:Indigenous Australian writers

Category:Women's Art Register artists