Sandra Brewster

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]

• Official website