Sandra Brewster | |
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Born | |
Education |
York University University of Toronto |
Sandra Brewster (born 1973) [1] is a Canadian visual artist based in Toronto. Her work is multidisciplinary in nature, and deals with notions of identity, representation and memory; centering Black presence in Canada. [2]
Brewster was born to a Guyanese immigrant family and grew up in Pickering, Ontario. [1] She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at York University in 1997 and her Master of Visual Studies at University of Toronto in 2017. [1] Her thesis exhibition, titled A Trace | Evidence of time past, was shown at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. [3]
Brewster's early works focused on traditional portraiture. She later transitioned towards drawings and metallic sculptures. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and South Africa. [4] She was an artist-in-residence in Brazil, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa, and her work has been published in numerous magazines, including Caribbean Beat and The Walrus. [5] [6]
One of Brewster's most prominent bodies of work is Smiths – a series of drawings that question identity and representation. Smiths began in 2014 when Brewster started cutting pages with the name "Smith" from phone books, and transposed these pages over afro-headed, faceless individuals. The series combines the varied personalities, desires, and personal stories of these people by applying a unified visual treatment, which removed any sense of individuality. [5] Brewster eventually developed these drawings into a series of paintings that illustrate the impact of gun violence on young black men in Toronto. [1]
Brewster's work has been shown in several group exhibitions, including alongside artists Nadijah Robinson and Curtia Wright in "No Vacancy" – a 2017 show about displacement held at the Scarborough Arts’ Bluffs Gallery and curated by Alyssa Fearon. [7] Her work was also included in the 2017 exhibition, "Position As Desired", curated by Kenneth Montague of The Wedge Collection (Wedge Curatorial Projects) [8] and held at the Art Gallery of Windsor. Other group exhibitions include Undomesticated, at Koffler Gallery, Toronto, 2019; [9] Here we are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art organized by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, where it was on display in 2018 [10] before touring to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2018 [11] and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2019; [12] Are You My Mother? at the Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, 2019; [13] and Position As Desired: Exploring African Canadian Identity at the Windsor Art Gallery in 2017. [14] Her solo exhibitions include Town Girls Beneath at YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto, 2019; [15] "Sandra Brewster: Blur" at the Art Gallery of Ontario, 2019; [16] "It’s all a blur", Georgia Scherman Projects at the 2017 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival; [17] and "Mohammeds", at Alice Yard in 2013. Her work appears on the cover of publications including ( Small Axe 29, 2009) [18] and Thicker Than Water (Peekash Press, 2018).
Sandra Brewster was awarded the title of Artist in Education by the Ontario Arts Council in 2009. [4] She was awarded the Gattuso Prize for an outstanding featured solo exhibition It's all a blur in the CONTACT Photography Festival in 2017. [3] Brewster is also a recipient of the Artist Prize from the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts (2018). [2]
Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. [19]
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