CASS Annual Public Lecture on Future Directions in Indigenous Research 2018. "Still in My Mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality" presented by Associate Professor Brenda L Croft. Recorded September 18, 2018.
Professor Brenda L Croft
Doctor of Philosophy, UNSW (2021); Honorary Doctorate (Visual Arts), University of Sydney (2009); Alumni Award, UNSW (2001); Master of Art Administration, UNSW (1995)
Professor, Indigenous Art History & Curatorship, Centre for Art History and Art Theory, ANU School of Art and Design
ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
Areas of expertise
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts And Crafts 450116
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Curatorial, Archives And Museum Studies 450105
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Media, Film, Animation And Photography 450110
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Research Methods 450115
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Health And Wellbeing 4504
- Art History, Theory And Criticism 3601
- Visual Arts 3606
- Other Studies In Creative Arts And Writing 1999
- Lens Based Practice 190503
Research interests
Australian First Nations' contemporary visual arts and culture; international First Nations' contemporary visual arts and culture; Critical Indigenous Performative Autoethnography, First Nations Storywork; Critical Indigenous Studies: Indigenous Knowledges; Creative-led research; Cultural representation; Re/memorying; Archives and access.
Other affiliations: Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection Advisory Committee, UVa, USA; ARC Centre of Excellence for The Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), Affiliate (2017 - 22); Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography, IWP member (2019 -); Research Centre for Deep History, School of History, Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, Collaborating Scholar (2020 -).
Biography
Brenda L Croft is from the Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra peoples from the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory of Australia, and Anglo-Australian/German/Irish/Chinese heritage.
Brenda’s four decades multi-disciplinary creative-led research encompasses critical performative Indigenous autoethnography, First Nations Storywork/Storying and embodied cultural archaeology. Her creative-led research is grounded in long-standing culturally respectful engagement with Australian and international First Nations communities, especially patrilineal family and community members.
In 2021 Brenda was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (UNSW). In 2022 she received a UNSW Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis for Kurrwa (stone tool/axehead) to Kartak (container, cup, billycan, pannikin): hand-made/held-ground. Her PhD included the collaborative exhibition, Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality. In 2023 the major series Naabami (thou shall/will see): Barangaroo (army of me) was exhibited in Sydney Festival (dual sites); and The National 4, Art Gallery of NSW.
In 2021 Brenda received an AIAH Art History Research Grant (Indigenous Australian), to support her Semester 2, 2022, OSP (Outside Study Program) based at the ANU North Australian Research Unit (NARU) at CDU, Darwin, NT. In 2022 Brenda’s PhD was selected for the AAANZ Early Career Publishing Program. iN 2022 Brenda received an ANU CASS Research Excellence Award and in 2023 she received an ANU Advancements Academic Champion Award.
In 2024 Brenda will be the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University across the Departments of History of Art and Architecture, and Art, Film, and Visual Studies. Brenda is privileged to live and work on the unceded sovereign lands of the Ngambri/Ngunnawal Peoples.
Researcher's projects
Artistic/curatorial practice-led research, selected
- 2023: National Photographic Portrait Prize selected work, blood/memory: Brenda & Christopher I (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra; Mara/Nandi/Njarrindjeri/Ritharrngu; Anglo-Australian/Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish), 2021, 2022, Brenda L Croft, Prue Hazelgrove (Photographic Assistant)
- 2023 Barangaroo (army of me) I, Sydney Festival, Barangaroo Precinct, with Lendlease, Design and Place, NSW, and Cracknell Lonergan Architects, public installation, 5 – 29 January;
- 2023: Dyin Nura (Women’s Place), (Naabami (thou shall/will see): Barangaroo (army of me) II), Sydney Festival, City of Parramatta, Old Government House, public installation, 19 – 22 January
- 2023: The National 4, (Naabami (thou shall/will see): Barangaroo (army of me) III), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 24 March - 23 July
- 2022: Outside Study Program, Semester 2. Based at NARU (ANU North Australian Research Unit), CDU Campus, Darwin. Supported by an AIAH (Australian Institute of Art History) History Research Grant, 2021. A two-pronged project, part a) R+D on The North Australian Expedition, 1855 – 56, for a proposed research project based on reimagining the Royal Geographical Society (RGS, London)-sponsored expedition undertaken by Augustus Charles Gregory and his compatriots tracing the Victoria River in the then Northern Territory of South Australia. Among the expedition participants was artist Thomas Baines, as artist and storekeeper. Baines’ extensive visual documentation of the expedition, comprising watercolours, drawings, maps and paintings, is held in significant collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia and the RGS collection acquired for the Kerry Stokes Collection. This research proposal entails a plan to revisit and reimagine this expedition from the perspective of First Nations communities – my patrilineal community (Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra) among them – whose traditional lands and waters the Victoria River wends through, with the intended outcome eventually being a collaborative exhibition at a major national cultural institution, with the exhibition including work by contemporary First Nations creative practitioners and knowledge holders through multi-disciplinary, multi-modal, multi-literacies creative-led research platforms. The intention is for Baines work to act as a form of historical mirror to which contemporary First Nations creatives respond. A key intent of this scholarly project is to develop a research team comprising First Nations knowledge holders – visual and performative creatives, language speakers, song-people, Rangers, Country custodians – alongside non-Indigenous colleagues with linguistic, ethnobotanical, anthropological, community-engagement expertise. R + D will be conducted through archives research at the Library and Archives of the Northern Territory; National Archives of Australia, NT and field research with First Nations and non-Indigenous representatives and communities associated with the Victoria River region. Part b) Victoria River Downs to Timber Creek to Kahlin Compound, 1925 – 2022. Expanding on creative-led research undertaken during my PhD, I propose to retrace the route undertaken from VRD to Timber Creek Police Station, thence by boat to Kahlin Compound, Darwin, in 1927 by my father and grandmother, through creative-led, performative First Nations collaborative Autoethnography and First Nations Storywork methodologies, working with First Nations and non-Indigenous community members, historians and researchers.
- 2019 - 2026: co-team leader on Murrudha: Sovereign walks - tracking cultural actions through art, Country, language and music (2020 - 2025), an ANU Grand Challenges: Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Collaborative Scheme project, on which she is working with local and regional First Nations Knowledge Holders developing a series of heritage pathways incorporating critical First Nations Performative Collaborative Autoethnography and Storywork methodologies.
- 2021 - 2022: hand/made/held/ground; (with Made in Australia II), Canberra Museum and Gallery, 29 October 2021 – 22 January 2022. Talks: In conversation with Jodie Cunningham (17 December); In conversation with Dr Aunty Matilda House and Genevieve Jacobs, 18 January (postponed due to Covid).
- 2019: hand/made/held/ground, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 19 November – 14 December. Work was created through two residencies with Canberra Glassworks (2017, 2019).
- 2018: People like us, We come from T/Here, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, 27 October – 10 November, Darwin
- 2018: heart-in-hand, solo exhibition, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman Arts Centre, 13 July - 8 September, https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4697/brenda-l-croft-heart-in-hand-7C-amala-groom-does-sh/; https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/family-history-and-cultural-appropriation-treated-in-intriguing-ways-20180827-p4zzy4.html; awarded Canberra Critics Circle Visual Arts Award (2018)
- 2017: Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality, Curator and participating artist; doctoral Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality, doctoral practice-led research project in partnership with Karungkarni Art and Culture Centre, UNSW Galleries, UNSW Art & Design, (5 May – 29 July) and UQ Art Museum, UQ, CoEDL UQ Node (12 August – 29 October). Curator and participating artist; Touring nationally 2018 – 2022. Public panels include: Charles Darwin University Collection and Art Gallery, Charles Darwin University, 2018 – 19; South Australian Museum, 2019
- 2016: subalter/N/ative dreams, Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July – 27 August. Curator/Artist, Solo exhibition, doctoral practice-led research project. Artist talk, 15 August
- 2012 - 15, Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous Award (Project ID: IN120100048), 'Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality', UNSW (National Institute for Experimental Arts, UNSW Art + Design)
Artistic practice, selected
- 2021: Longing for Home, Art Gallery of NSW, 6 March – 22 August. Artists: Daniel Boyd, Brenda L Croft, Roy Kennedy, Ricky Maynard, Peter Mungkari and Carlene West.
- 2020- 21: Know my name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now (part 1), National Gallery of Australia, 14 November – 31 January https://knowmyname.nga.gov.au/artists/brenda-croft/. Conference - Opening Keynote Address: Where are we now? Genevieve Grieves: First Nations perspectives on art, gender and feminism, 10 November; ALTERNATE HISTORIES: Facilitated by Dr Catriona Moore with Associate Professor Brenda L. Croft, Dr Anne Marsh, Dr Alex Martinis Roe, Elspeth Pitt and Salote Tawale,11 November https://theconversation.com/beauty-and-audacity-know-my-name-presents-a-new-female-story-of-australian-art-150139
- 2020 – 21: Belonging: Stories of Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia. This major collection presentation recasts the story of nineteenth-century Australian art. Informed by the many voices of Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and communities, the display reconsiders Australia’s history of colonisation. It draws together historical and contemporary work created by more than 170 artists from across Australia.
- 2020 - 21: Seeing Canberra, Canberra Museum + Art Gallery, 7 March 2020 – 24 July 2021. Seeing Canberra exhibition Indigenous themed self-guided tour.
- 2020: National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 6 March - 27 September
- 2019 – 20: How The City Cares, for The Big Anxiety Festival of arts + science + people, Customs House, Sydney, 14 September – mid April 2020, curated by Bec Dean
- 2019 – 20: City Dialogue, Customs House, Sydney, 5 November, curated by Dr Felicity Fenner
- 2019: hand/made/held/ground, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 19 November - 14 December, solo exhibition
- 2018: Hindmarsh Prize, Canberra Glassworks, 21 - 30 September, Fitters Workshop, Kingston; Toyama Art Glass Museum, Japan 26 October to 4 November 2018, shortlisted artist
- 2018: Head-to-Head: Shifting Perspectives in Australian portraiture, Flinders University Art Museum, 26 April – 24 June
- 2018: Genius loci, group exhibition, Canberra Glassworks, 4 April - 3 June
- 2017 - 18: Tell: Ballarat International Foto Biennale, 19 August – 17 September, The Mining Exchange, Ballarat, Vic, touring 2018
- 2017 - 18: The Boomalli Ten: Boomalli 30th anniversary exhibition, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Sydney, 3 Nov – 28 January
- 2017 – 18: Under Pressure: Cicada Press, Tarnanthi Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia, 13 October 2017 – 28 January 2018
- 2017 – 18: A Widening Gap: The Intervention, 10 Years On, The Cross Arts Project, Sydney, 8 July – 5 August, http://www.crossart.com.au/archive/113-2018-exhibitions-projects/344-a-widening-gap-the-intervention-10-years-on-counihan-gallery-in-brunswick-8-june-to-8-july-2018
- 2017: Everyone has a history Part One: Plain Speak, Art Gallery of Western Australia, 25 February – 13 August, https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/whats-on/events/artist-talk-plain-speak-brenda-l-croft; https://vimeo.com/208776161; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9RU4MBoM9c
- 2017: Honouring Cultures: ACT Arts Residency, 4 – 29 September, Canberra Glassworks
- 2017: Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, 26 May – 10 September
- 2016 - 18: Resolution: contemporary Indigenous photography, National Gallery of Australia touring exhibition
- 2016: subalter/N/ative dreams, solo exhibition, doctoral research, Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July - 27 August, solo exhibition
- 2016: Sea of Hands: 20th anniversary, commission, Barangaroo Cultural Precinct, Sydney, May 27 - 3 June
- 2013: Brenda L Croft, survey exhibition, 25 years in the collection, Yiribana Gallery, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, 6 Apr – 15 October
- 2013: Thicker than water, Museum of Contemporary Native American Art, Santa Fe, USA. Symposium ‘The Personal Archive: Memory and Imagination in Contemporary Art’, 19 January.
- 2012 – 13: Making change: celebrating 40th anniversary of Australia-China relations, National Museum of China in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Photography & the College of Fine Arts, UNSW. Curatorial advisor and participating artist
- 2012 - 13: Shadowlife, Asialink/Bendigo Art Gallery touring exhibition, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand; Australia
- 2009 - 10: homeland (Heimat), CACSA (Contemporary Art Space of South Australia), Adelaide; CACSA Projects 2010, Institute of Contemporary Arts, LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore
- 2009: She’ll be right mate: strangers in a strange land, solo exhibition, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
- 2008 – 9: Half light: Portraits from Black Australia Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
- 2005 - 6: Peripheral Vision, solo exhibition, Artplace, Perth; Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
- 2003 - 4: Man about town, solo exhibition, Artplace, Perth; Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
- 2000: Wuganmagulya (Farm Cove), Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Sculpture Walk, City of Sydney commission
- 1998: In my mother's garden, solo exhibition, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
- 1998: In My Father's House, solo exhibition, The Australian Centre for Photography with Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Co-operative, Sydney
- 1994: Strange Fruit, solo exhibition, The Performance Space with Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Co-operative, Redfern, Sydney
- 1993: The Big Deal is Black, solo exhibition, The Australian Centre for Photography with Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Paddington, Sydney
Curatorial practice, selected
- 2017: Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality, in partnership with UNSW Galleries, UNSW Art + Design; University of Queensland Art Museum; Karungkarni Art + Culture Aboriginal Corporation; with support from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. National tour (2018 - 2022) supported by Visions of Australia and Artback NT Touring Agency
- 2017: A Change is Gonna Come: 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum/25th Anniversary of the Mabo Decision, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs, National Museum of Australia, 1 December 2016 – 31 May 2017
- 2015: 'We are in Wonder LAND' Symposium, presented as part of We are in Wonderland: New Experimental art from Central Australia, UNSW Galleries/National Institute of Experimental Arts, UNSW Art + Design. Symposium Mistress of Ceremonies, Q+A Facilitator,15 May; Exhibition Curatorial Advisor
- 2011: Stop(the)gap/Mind(the)gap: international Indigenous art in motion, Adelaide Film Festival 2011, with Samstag Museum of Art, UniSA and associated venues. Guest curator commissioned by Adelaide Film Festival and Samstag Museum of Art. Lead curator with Megan Tamati-Quennell (Aotearoa/NZ), David Garneau (Canada) and Kathleen Ash-Milby (USA). Artists: Rebecca Belmore (Canada), Dana Claxton (Canada), Nova Paul (Aotearoa/NZ), Alan Michelson (USA), Lisa Reihana (Aotearoa/NZ), Warwick Thornton (Australia). Stop(the)Gap generated extensive media, with high attendances of students, festival visitors and the general public to accompanying associated symposia in 2010 – 11, including Looking Forward/Looking Blak: Indigenous Identity in Australian Cinema, a panel accompanying a film program I curated, with all having a capacity audiences
- 2007 - 9: National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors, National Gallery of Australia, and national tour, 2008; international tour to Katzen Art Center, American University, Washington, DC, USA, 2009
- 2006 - 8: Michael Riley: sights unseen, National Gallery of Australia, ACT 14 Jul. 2006-16 Oct. 2006, Monash Gallery of Art, Wheelers Hill, Vic. 16 Nov. 2006-25 Feb. 2007, Dubbo Regional Gallery, Dubbo and Moree Plains Gallery, Moree, 12 May-8 Jul. 2007, 19 May-15 Jul. respectively, Museum of Brisbane, Qld 27 Jul-19 Nov. 2007, Art Gallery of New South Wales, NSW 22 Feb.-27 Apr. 2008
- 2002 - 6: First Nations cultural exchange from the federal Government to the French Government, facilitated through the Australia Council for the Arts. The works of the selected artists Ningura Napurrula, Lena Nyadbi, Judy Watson, Gulumbu Yunupingu, John Mawurndjul, Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford, Michael Riley and Tommy Watson were integrated into the facades, ceilings and rooftops of the Musée du quai Branly, designed by renowned architect Jean Nouvel during President Chirac’s presidency. Research and development required extensive consultation with the artists in their home communities and studios, high level diplomatic discussions between the Australia Council for the Arts and their French counterpart, site visits to Paris during the building’s construction, extensive liaison between Cracknell Lonergan Architects (on Australia’s behalf) with Jean Nouvel's team and the Musée du quai Branly’s Curatorial team. ‘The French Connection’ (2007), documented the project from concept to realisation
- 2003: South West Central: Indigenous art from south Western Australia 1833-2002, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Guest curator for the 2003 Perth International Art Festival
- 2000: Beyond the Pale: contemporary Indigenous art Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Adelaide Festival 2000. Guest Curator
- 1997 - 9: fluent: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yvonne Koolmatrie & Judy Watson Australian Pavilion 47th Venice Biennale, & Australian tour. Curatorial team member with Hetti Perkins & Victoria Lynn for the Art Gallery of NSW. 1997 (Venice), 1998 (Australian tour), see https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/fluent/
Available student projects
I am available to supervise students whose research areas include:
- Australian First Nations art and culture
- creative-led practice and methodologies
- critical First Nations performative autoethnography
- public and personal archives
- creative narratives, First Nations Storywork
- identity and representation
- social justice and self-determination
Current student projects
Supervisory Panel Member, PhD candidates:
Sam Provost, 'Dreaming digital Country: Reframing Indigenous futurity with emergent spatial technologies'
Maeve Powell, '(Re)Mapping the Academy: using a spatial approach to explore Indigenous belonging at the ANU' (PhD Project working title). On hold.
Lisa Hill, 'Both Sides of the Lens: Visual representation and agency of Papua Niuginian women in photography and filmmaking'
Past student projects
Honours students:
2019 - Matilda Skerritt, Thesis project: Handle With Care: Porcelain in Contemporary Australian First Nations Art Practice. Awarded Kate and Bill Guy Art History and Theory Honours Prize. Supervisor, with Dr Sarah Scott.
Publications
- Croft, B, Toussaint, S, Meakins, F et al. 2020, '"For the children...": Aboriginal Australia, cultural access, and archival obligation', in L Barwick, J Green & P Vaarzon-Morel (ed.), Archival Returns: Central Australia and beyond, University of Hawaii Press, Hawai, pp. 173-191.
- Croft, B, 2019, 'Blackwoman', in Cordite, 89: Domestic, (ed. Dr Natalie Harkin), 1 February, 2019, http://cordite.org.au/poetry/domestic/blackwoman/, accessed 3 December, 2020
- Croft, B 2018, ‘Missing’, in Absolute Humidity (Ed. Tess Maunder), Hardbound, First Edition. (A Hardworking Goodlooking Book. Printer: Tito Acquino Noscal, Manila City, Philippines). Attribution: Non-Commercial-NoDeriv (CC BY-NC-ND), pp 34 – 45. (Essay originally published in Shards: Nici Cumpston, Yhonnie Scarce and Judy Watson, exh. Cat. SASA Gallery, UniSA, 30 September – 24 October, 2008, curated by Mary Knights)
- Croft, B 2018, 'Grounded (red, black, white)', triptych, exhibited in Genius loci, Canberra Glassworks, 5 April - 3 June; selected for Hindmarsh Prize, Fitters Workshop, Canberra Glassworks, 21 - 30 September; Toyama Glass Museum, Toyama, Japan, 26 October - 11 November
- Croft, B 2018, 'Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality', in Jacqueline Millner, Catriona Moore (eds.), Feminist Perspectives on Art : Contemporary Outtakes, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, UK, pp. 69-78. Best Indigenous Writing Award, AAANZ Annual Conference, 2018.
- Croft, B 2018, 'The Instability of Truth: Aspects of Developing a Specific Indigenous Methodology on Experimental Practice-led Research', Visual Anthropology Review, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 15-26.
- Croft, B 2017, 'home/lands', essay in Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality, (exh. cat.) UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, Qld, pp 19 - 31.
- Croft, B 2017, 'Still in my mind: Gurindji location, experience and visuality', practice-led doctoral research exhibition, UNSW Galleries, UNSW, 5 May - 29 July. Curator, participating artist.
- Croft, B, 2017, 'shut/mouth/scream' (2016) (diptych), from the 'blood/type' series, exhibited in Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, 26 May - 10 September, 2017.
- Croft, B 2016 - 2017, 'shut/mouth/scream', (diptych) from the 'blood/type' series. Pigment print on archival paper. Exhibited in solo exhibition 'subalter/N/ative dreams', Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July - 27 August, 2016; 'Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial', National Gallery of Australia, 26 May - 10 September, 2017, then national tour
- Croft, B, 2016 - 2017, 'Wave Hill/Victoria River Country' (2016), 21 pigment prints on archival paper. Exhibited in ‘subalter/N/ative dreams’, Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July – 27 August, 2016; ‘Defying Empire: 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial', National Gallery of Australia, 26 May - 10 September, 2017
- Croft., B, 2016 - 17, 'Self-portraits on country, 2014' (printed 2016), 13 pigment prints on archival paper. Exhibited in solo exhibition 'subalter/N/ative dreams', Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July - 27 August, 2016; ‘tell: Ballarat International Foto Biennial’, 19 August - 17 September, 2017
- Croft, B 2016, subalter/N/ative dreams - solo exhibition, Stills Gallery, Sydney, 27 July - 27 August.
- Croft, B 2016, Retrac(k)ing country and (s)kin: walking the Wave Hill Walk Off Track (and other sites of cultural contestation), Westerly, Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 76 - 82.
- Croft, B 2015, 'Signs of the Times', in Rosie Scott, Anita Heiss (ed.), The Intervention: An anthology, Concerned Australians, Salisbury, South Australia, pp. 162 - 178.
- Croft, B 2015, 'Say my name', in Celina Jeffery (ed.), The Artist as Curator, Intellect, Bristol, UK; University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA, pp. 115 - 130. https://issuu.com/tina9214/docs/celina_jeffery-the_artist_as_curato
- Croft, B 2015, 'Still in My Mind: An Exploration of Practice-led Experimental Research in Progress', Cultural Studies Review, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. pp. 230-248.
- Croft, B 2012, 'Revolutionize me (and you, and you, and you)' in Decolonize Me/Décolonisez Moi, (exh. cat.), Ottawa Art Gallery, Canada, pp 46 - 73.
- Croft, B 2011, 'Sell-abrasion of our nations', lead essay, exhibition catalogue, 'Stop(the)gap: international Indigenous art in motion', Samstag Art Museum and Port Adelaide Mill, Adelaide International Art Festival, guest curator (with curatorial advisors Kathleen Ash-Milby (USA), David Garneau (Canada) and Megan Tamati-Quennell (Aotearoa/New Zealand), Feb - March, 2011
- Croft, B 2007, 'To be young (at heart), gifted and blak: the cultural and political renaissance of Indigenous art in Australia', in H. Perkins and M. West (ed.), One Sun, One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, pp. pp285 - pp292.
- Croft, B 2007, 'Cannot buy my soul', in (ed.), Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia, pp. x - xxvii.
- Croft, B 2007, Culture Warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia. Inaugural curator. Established the National Indigenous Art Triennial during tenure as Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, NGA, (2002 - 09).
- Croft, B 2006, 'Up in the sky, behind the clouds', in (ed.), Michael Riley: Sights Unseen, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia, pp. 17 - 43.
- Croft, B 2006, Michael Riley: Sights Unseen, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia. Curator.
- Croft, B 2006, 'Meeting, Not Colliding', Vision, Space, Desire: Global Perspectives and Cultural Hybridity, ed. Elizabeth Kennedy Gische, National Museum of the American Indian: Smithsonian Institute, USA, pp. 68-75.
- Croft, B 2004, 'What about the dots and circles?! The children need them!', Banff Centre for Continuing Education Conference, ed. Lee-Ann Martin, The Banff International Curatorial Institute, in association with Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre, Canada, pp. 108 - 127.
- Croft, B 2003, 'Textiles and tactility; object list', in (ed.), Tactility: two centuries of objects, textiles and fibre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
- Croft, B & Jenkins, S 2003, 'Cultural life-force: ceremonial and traditional practices', in (ed.), Tactility: two centuries of objects, textiles and fibre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, pp. pp9-pp11.
- Croft, B & Jenkins, S 2003, 'Representing the figurative', in (ed.), Tactility: two centuries of objects, textiles and fibre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, pp. pp12-pp17.
- Croft, B & Jenkins, S 2003, 'Tactility: two centuries of objects, textiles and fibre', in (ed.), Tactility: two centuries of objects, textiles and fibre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, pp. pp3-pp6.
- Croft, B 2003, 'Ink to Inkjet', in (ed.), South West Central: Indigenous Art from south Western Australia 1833 - 2002, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA, pp. 21 - 35.
- Croft, B 2003, South West Central: Indigenous Art from south Western Australia 1833 - 2002, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA. Curator.
- Croft, B 2002, 'Laying ghosts to rest', in (ed.), Colonialist Photography: Imag(in)ing Race and Place., Routledge, London UK; New York, USA, pp. 20 - 29. Previously published in Portraits of Oceania, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997.
- Croft, B & O'Ferrall, M 2001, 'Indigenous art in the State Art Collection', in Indigenous Art: Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, pp. 7 - 13.
- Croft, B 2001, 'Albert's Gift', in (ed.), Indigenous Art: Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, pp. 76 - 93pp.
- Croft, B 2000, 'beyond the pale: empires built on the bones of the dispossessed', in (ed.), beyond the pale: empires built on the bones of the dispossessed, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, pp. 8 - 14.
- Croft, B 2000, Beyond the pale: contemporary Indigenous art, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, for the Adelaide International Arts Festival, Australia. Curator.
- Croft, B 1999, 'Boomalli: from little things big things grow', in Taylor, L. (ed.), Painting the Land Story, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, pp. 95-118.