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blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish) 2021

2022 (printed 2023)
Brenda L Croft, Prue Hazelgrove (wet plate collodion process technical assistant) and Richard Crampton (printer)

original wet plate collodion process tintype, digital scan to Ultrachrome pigment on paper, edition 2/5 + 3 APs (sheet: 140.0 cm x 111.8 cm)

Multidisciplinary Creative Researcher, Brenda L. Croft (born 1964, Boorloo/Perth, WA) is from the Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra Peoples from the Victoria River region in the Northern Territory, and Anglo-Australian/German/Irish/Chinese/Scottish heritage. One of Australia’s most important contemporary artists, Croft studied at the Canberra School of Art (1982), Sydney College of the Arts (1985), College of Fine Arts (1990–1994) and UNSW Art + Design (2012–2021). A practising artist since 1985, in 1987 she was a founding member with nine other First Nations artists (Bronwyn Bancroft, Euphemia Bostock, Fiona Foley, Fernanda Martins, Arone Raymond Meeks, Tracey Moffatt, Avril Quaill, Michael Riley and Jeffrey Samuels), and later general manager (1990–1996) of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney. She gained a Master’s in art administration in 1995, was awarded a UNSW Alumni Award in 2001, an honorary PhD from the University of Sydney in 2009 and completed her creative-led PhD at the University of New South Wales in 2021, with her thesis receiving a UNSW Dean's Award for Outstanding PhD thesis. For over three decades Croft has exhibited in major exhibitions nationally and internationally including The National 4 (2023), for which 48 large-scale portraits were installed in the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Among numerous awards, grants and commissions Croft won the 2013 Deadlys Award for Visual Artist of the Year and received the 2015 Australia Council's National Indigenous Arts Awards Fellowship. She has worked as a curator of Australian First Nations Art at state, federal and international levels, and as a senior academic at national and international levels. Currently Professor of Indigenous Art History & Curatorship at the ANU, in 2024, Croft will travel to Harvard University to be the 2024 Gough Whitlam and Malcom Fraser Chair of Australian Studies.

This work is both a self-portrait, and a portrait of kinship and family traced through Croft's relationship with her son/great-nephew/grandson Christopher. A finalist in the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize Croft explained in her artist statement:

'blood/memory: Christopher is my son/great-nephew/grandson, I am Christopher's mother/great-aunt/grandmother. His great-grandmother is my father's older sister. They shared the same non-Indigenous father, different First Nations mothers, but still looked like peas in a pod. Our combined bloodlines include Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra peoples and Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish for me, Mara/Ngarrindjeri/Ritharrngu and Anglo-Australian/Irish/Scottish for Christopher. My grandfather/Christopher's great-great-grandfather's journey into the Northern Territory over a century ago is reflected in this portrait. It is a gift to share Christopher's life and I learn from him every day – blood/memory. Marntaj.'

A version of the portrait, blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher II, was the Winner of the 2023 Work on Paper award at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2023 Finalist

Purchased 2023
© Brenda L Croft/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.
© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

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