Sandra Brewster is a Canadian visual artist based in Toronto. Her work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. A recipient of the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Artist Prize (2018) and the Gattuso Prize for Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival (2017), Brewster has been recognized for her community-based practice that centres a Black presence located in Canada. The daughter of Guyanese-born parents, she is especially attuned to the experiences of people of Caribbean heritage and their ongoing relationships with back home. Her exhibition Blur is currently on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She received a Masters of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto. Brewster is represented by Georgia Scherman Projects.
E D U C A T I O N
1997 B.F.A., York University, Toronto
2017 Master of Visual Studies, University of Toronto
O N E P E R S O N E X H I B I T I O N S
2019 Town Girls Beneath, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto
Sandra Brewster: Blur, Mary and Harry Jackman Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario
Token | Contemporary Ongoing (curated by Sally Frater), Or Gallery, Vancouver
Token | Contemporary Ongoing, A Space Gallery, Toronto
2017 It’s all a blur, CONTACT Festival, Georgia Scherman Projects
2017 A Trace | Evidence of time past, Masters of Visual Studies thesis exhibition, Art Museum, UofT
2017 Assemblage, Never Apart Gallery, Montreal
2016 blur, The Franklin, Chicago
2015 From Life, Onyx Building, Toronto
Tree of Life: The Baobab, Forever Interiors, Toronto Design Offsite Festival, Toronto
2013 Mohammeds, Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
2011 Guyana Art, Runnymede Public Library, Toronto, ON
2010 Listen Installation, (curated by Suzanne Luke) Robert Langen Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario
2009 Guyana Art, A Space Gallery Windows, Toronto, Ontario
Face (for the run of Toronto the Good), Factory Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
2008 Strip, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2007 4 Series, Canadian Heritage, Toronto, Ontario
Teeter Totter, Bookends Window Installation (Mayworks Festival), Another Story Bookshop, Toronto, Ontario
Profile, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2006 OverTime (as part of bcurrent’s rock.paper.sistahz5 festival), The Trane Studio, Toronto, Ontario
2005 Taking Place, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Reflections on Cool, Latcham Gallery, Stouffville, Ontario
2004 Stance, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2003 Cool, Studio Show on Beatrice Street, Toronto, Ontario
2002 Cool Pose, Zsa Zsa, Toronto, Ontario
S E L E C T E D G R O U P E X H I B I T I O N S
2019 Undomesticated (curated by Mona Filip), Koffler Gallery, Toronto
Here We Are Here (curated by Julie Crooks, Dominique Fontaine, Silvia Forni), Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
Ad Infinitum (curated by Magda Gonzalez-Mora), Arsenal Habana, Cuba
Are You My Mother? (curated by Jennifer Matotek), Dunlop Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
2018 LagosPhoto Festival 2018, Lagos, Nigeria
Here We Are Here (curated by Julie Crooks, Dominique Fontaine, Silvia Forni), Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
An Assembly of Shapes (curated by Clara Halpern), Oakville Galleries
Common Cause: before and beyond the global (curated by Denise Ryner), Mercer Union, Toronto
Movers and Shakers (curated by Betty Julian), Prefix Gallery, Toronto
Here We Are Here (curated by Julie Crooks, Dominique Fontaine, Silvia Forni), Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
2017 Position As Desired (curated by Kenneth Montague), Art Gallery of Windsor
2016 New Found Lands (curated by Pamela Edmonds), eastern Edge Gallery, St. Johns’s, Newfoundland
Enraged, Inertia ran off (curated by the Red Tree Collective), Hamilton
Un|Fixed Homeland (curated by Grace Aneiza Ali), Center for contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey
Family Business, Arts Incubator, Chicago
The Mecca (curated by Ray McAuliffe), JCT Gallery, Toronto
2015 BASEMENT (curated by Carla Garnet), BIG on Bloor Festival, Toronto
Performing Blackness Performing Whiteness (curated by Darren Miller), Allegheny College Art Galleries, Meadville, Pennsylvania
2014 Addis Foto Fest National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2012 28 Days (curated by Pamela Edmonds and Sally Frater), Georgia Scherman Projects
2011 Serious Play (curated by Pamela Edmonds), SPACE, London, England
2010 (RE) Visions (with Camille Turner and Stephen Fakiyesi, curated by Sally Frater), The Print Studio, Hamilton, ON
2009 Fortune Tellers, (curated by Kimberly Mayhorn), FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
Summer Group Exhibition, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, ON
2008 Movement 08 (curated by Stephen Fakiyesi), The Production House, Etobicoke, Ontario
lVI salón de debujo de santo domingo, Museoo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2007 Art House Affair, (curated by Stephen Fakiyesi), The Production House, Etobicoke, Ontario
Alter To (curated by Amelia Jimenez), Gallery 1313, Toronto, Ontario
Fleeting Face (curated by Teresa Ascencao), A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Square Foot, AWOL Gallery, Toronto, ON
Group of Six (as part of bcurrent’s rock.paper.sisthaz6 festival), Harlem Restaurant, Toronto, Ontario
2006 Perspectives (curated by Julie Crooks), National Film Board of Canada, Toronto, Ontario
2005 10, Trane Studio & Lounge, Toronto, Ontario
The Hero Project (with Grace Channer and Camille Turner, curated by Natalie Wood), Women’s Art Resource Centre, Toronto, Ontario
2004 Something for Everyone, XEXE Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2003 Square Foot, AWOL Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
The Michael Jackson Project, Zsa Zsa, Toronto, Ontario
2002 Untitled, A Space Windows (with John Abrams), Toronto, Ontario
The Last Stop, St. Norbert Arts Centre, St. Norbert, Manitoba
Black History Month Open Juried Exhibition, Kathleen Gormley McKay Art Centre, Unionville, Ontario
Through My Eyes, Through My Spirit (curated by Starr Jacobs), Spadina Historic House and Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
Human Rights Through Art Exhibit, City Hall and other venues throughout Toronto, Scarborough and Brampton, Ontario
2001 Bantu Art Association Exhibition, Victory Café, Toronto, Ontario
Thupelo, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Close-Cropped, Community Arts Project, Cape Town, South Africa
1999 Open Juried Exhibition A Day in the Life…, The Latcham Gallery, Stouffville, Ontario
Countdown to the Millennium – Society of Canadian Artists’ 32nd Annual Open
Juried Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Justice, Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Ontario
SCA New Members Exhibition, Sherway Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
I Am, Simcoe Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1998 Solidarity, Black Paint Studio, Toronto, Ontario
1997 Rememory, A Different Booklist, Toronto, Ontario
R E S I D E N C I E S
2017-18 Instituto Sacatar, Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil
2013 Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
2002 The Last Stop, St. Norbert Art Centre, St. Norbert, Manitoba
2000 Thupelo, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
A R T S E D U C A T O R / C O M M U N I T Y A R T
2009-2016 Program Coordinator, Sketch: working arts for street involved and homeless youth, Toronto, Ontario
2010 Visual Art Facilitator, This Is My Neighbourhood, Birch Cliff Heights P.S., Toronto, Ontario (Exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Arts Etobicoke Gallery)
Visual Art Facilitator, Symbols of Us – Black History Month, Beverly Heights M.S., Toronto, Ontario (Art work produced was exhibited at TDSB Head Office.)
Visual Art Facilitator, Image Transfer Workshop, Africentric School, Toronto, Ontario
2009 Visual Art Facilitator, Medina Project, Brookview Middle School, Toronto, Ontario
2008 Portrait Workshop Facilitator, Sketch: working arts for street involved and homeless youth, Toronto
2007 Workshop Facilitator, Hoarding Project-Children’s Workshop/Mural Development, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
2006 Visual Art Youth Workshop Facilitator, Boys and Girls Club, Toronto
2000 Visual Arts Facilitator, Peace Project, Zwelethemba Township, Cape Town, South Africa
J U R I E S / C O M M I T T E E S
2016 Board of Directors, Gallery 44, Toronto
Advisory Committee, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto
Jury Member, 8Fest, Toronto
Jury Member, Visual Arts Projects, Ontario Arts Council
2014 Curatorial Advisory committee, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto
2013 Jury Member, Artist in the Community/Workplace, Ontario Arts Council
2009 Jury Member, Visual Arts, Canada Council for the Arts
2008 Programming Committee Member, Regent Park Film Festival, Toronto,
Jury Member, Delisle Youth Gallery, Toronto
2006 Jury Member, Visual Arts, Mid Career, Ontario Arts Council
Programming Committee, A Space Gallery, Toronto
2004 Jury Member, Visual Arts, Emerging, Toronto Arts Council
2002-2005 Board of Directors, A Space Gallery, Toronto
C U R A T O R I A L
2014 Open House, An exhibition of works by Toronto based artists working in visual media, A House on Symington Avenue, Toronto, ON
Exposed 2014: Deciding Centre, Nia Centre of the Arts, 918 Bathurst, Toronto, Ontario
2013 Open House, An exhibition of works by Toronto based artists working in visual media, A House on Symington Avenue, Toronto, ON
2012 Open House, An exhibition of works by 14 artists living in West Toronto, A House on Symington Avenue, Toronto
MultiArt (as part of bcurrent’s rock paper sistahz #11 festival), Wychwood Barns, Toronto, Ontario
2009-present Market/Gallery Coordinator, Sketch: working arts for street involved and homeless youth, Toronto, Ontario
2008 HANDS ON (Co-curator with Amelia Jiménez), , Gallery 1313, Toronto, Ontario
2007 Group of Six (as part of bcurrent’s rock.paper.sisthaz6 festival), Harlem Restaurant, Toronto, Ontario
2003 On the Cusp (Co-curator with Ron Edding and Amelia Jimenez), A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
A R T I S T T A L K S / P A N E L S
2019 Conversation: Sandra Brewster and Canisia Lubrin for Blur, Art Gallery of Ontario
2018 Are you My Mother? Dunlop Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
NIA Centre for the Arts
Sunday Scene, Power Plant Gallery, Toronto
In conversation with Julie Crooks, Visibility Symposium, Art Gallery of Ontario
2017 Position As Desired, Art Gallery of Windsor
2016 Perspectives oon the House museum (with Greg Tate and Mabel O. Wilson), Art Gallery of Ontario
Geography and Planning Speakers Series, University of Toronto
2014 Luminous Bodies, Thematic Art Residency, Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts, Toronto
A State of Blackness, Toronto, Ontario
2013 Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
2011 Position As Desired: A Symposiuum on Artistic Practice and African Diasporic Communities in Canada, ROM, Toronto
2010 Wilfred Laurier University (as part of the “Listen Installation” at Robert Langen Art Gallery), Waterloo, Ontario
(Re) Visions, The Print Studio, Hamilton, ON
2009 STRIP – A Visual Response to Gun Violence, Black History Conference for Teens, University of Toronto, Mississauga
2008 Involve Youth Art Expo, Science Centre, Toronto, Ontario
2007 Delisle Youth Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2006 With SEENCollective, A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Black Women Speak, Victoria Park S.S., L’Amoreaux C.I., Toronto, Ontario
Delisle Youth Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Perspectives, National Film Board of Canada, Toronto, Ontario
2005 Albion Heights Public School, Girls Group, Etobicoke, Ontario
Working Within Collectives (with SEENCollective), Shift Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
10 for 10, Trane (with SEEN Collective) Studio, Toronto, Ontario
2004 Breaking Barriers, Emery Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario
2003 Self Perception Through Art, Central Technical Highschool, Toronto, Ontario
2002 Member’s Talk, A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
A W A R D S
2018 Artist Prize, Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts
2017 Gattuso Prize for Outstanding Exhibition, CONTACT Photography Festival
2002-2018 Production grants from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils, and The Canada Council for the Arts.
2009 Ontario Arts Council – Artist in Education
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council
C I T A T I O N S
2017 Transitions Magazine, No. 124, 2017, front cover.
2009 Small Axe, Cover, July 2009.
2007 The Walrus, We Want a Black Poem (article by Austin Clarke), March 2007, pg. 65.
Book Cover, Rebirth of the Warrior Poet by Osaze Dolabaille.
2006 Book Cover, BEATDOWN: Three Plays by Joseph Jomo Pierre, Playwrights Canada Press, July 2006.
Chimurenga 9: Conversations in Luanda and Other Graphic Stories, When You Kill Us, We Rule, Chimurenga 9, 2006.
2001 Mix Magazine, Sandra Brewster on Facing Cool, Fall 2003, Vol. 29.2, pg. 32-35.
Making Waves, On the Cover, Summer, 2002, Vol. 2:4, cover, pg. 2, back cover.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y / R E V I E W S
2019 Neil Price. “The Legacy of Presence”. 21 August 2019. www.canadianart.ca.
Yaniya Lee. “Sanda Brewster”. 11 June 2019. www.canadianart.ca.
Nehal El-Hadi. Exhibition Essay, Token | Contemporary Ongoing, A Space Gallery. January 2019.
2017 Julie Crooks, “Practicing Refusal”. Volume 18, Number 2018, pg. 18-31.
Terence Dick. “2017 University of Toronto MVS Studio Program Graduating Exhibition at the Art Museum”. 29 March 2017. www.akimbo.ca.
2016 Seph Rodney. “Gathering the Work of Guyanese Artists Far from Home”. 14 Sept 2016. www.hyperallergic.com.
2015 Ron Fanfair. “Visual artist’s latest exhibit chronicles Toronto influences”. share, 24 June 2015.
2013 Nicholas Laughlin. “The Shape of a Name.” Caribbean Beat, May/June 2013, pg. 46.
Ryan B. Patrick. “URBAN/Intersection: Multimedia artist Sandra Brewster.” Canada Arts Connect Online Magazine, May 22, 2013.
Marsha Pearce. “Complexity through simplicity.” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, March 31, 2013.
Nalini Mohabir. Of Note Magazine. 2012. www.ofnotemagazine.org,
2010 Nicholas Laughlin. www.cometotown.blogspot.com, Issue 2, January 2010.
2009 Sally Frater. “Sally Frater on Sandra Brewster”, July 23, 2009, www.smallaxe.net,
2007 “Ethnicity’s Fleeting Face: Emerging artists explore self-presentation in a globalized world.” NOW Magazine, Vol. 26 NO. 45, Fran Schechter.
2005 Eloi Minka. “TAKING PLACE: Toronto artist Sandra Brewster tackles media images”, Afrotoronto.com, September 26, 2005,
Nicky Davis. “Afro turned onto its head.” Toronto Sun, October 17, 2005, pg. 22,
Peter Goddard. “Hot fantasies, heroes, a hotel and much more.” Toronto Star, February 12, 2005, pg. H8.
Catherine Farquharson. “Heroic Heights: Group multimedia show looks at complex identity issues in smart ways.” NOW Magazine, Feb. 3-9, 2005, Vol. 23, No.23, pg. 69.
R.M. Vaughan. “Black women artists redefine the heroic.” The National Post, January 29, 2005, pg. TO10.
Victoria Palmer. “Last Stop Residency.” NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art, Spring/Summer, 2003, No. 18, pg. 102.
Von Bark. 2002 Lola Magazine, Shotgun Review, Winter, 2002-03, No. 14, pg. 81.
Barbara Isherwood. “Black Women Artists Inflitrate Spadina House.” The Annex Gleaner, , March 2002, Vol. 7, No. 11, pg.10,
Gay Abbate. “Exhibition of paintings helps honour black history.” The Globe and Mail, January 31, pg. A1.
Sue Williamson. “Brewster and Schneckloth Inaugurate new CAP Gallery.” Artthrob, March, 2001, Issue no. 43. www.artthrob.co.za.