Brook Andrew’s interdisciplinary arts practice uses new and historical forms, images and text to draw comparisons between Australian and international histories of colonialism and modernity. He aims to make forgotten stories visible and generate new dialogue around dominant narratives and blind-spots in pedagogical and artistic practices, offering alternative choices for interpreting history in the world today. These perspectives are informed by his cultural inheritance of Australian Wiradjuri (Aboriginal) and Celtic ancestry.
Andrew’s presentation at Künstlerhaus Bethanien combines earlier and more recent work reflecting on his research in Berlin over the past year.
By bringing together sculpture, neon, video, and archival material he juxtaposes and challenges people to think differently about histories, identities and the places they inhabit.
The term ‘glue’ in the title of the exhibition alludes metaphorically to the coherence of diverse sites of colonialism internationally, and their related meanings and connections to memorial sites in Berlin, Ger-many and greater Europe. This is an important reference for the artist, considering the lack of memorials in Australia to Indigenous loss and survival.