Education
Master of Fine Arts, Drawn-Out: trace and catharsis, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney (AU)
2015–2016
Master of Fine Arts (visiting scholar), LUCA School of Arts, Ghent (BE)
2012
Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours, Automatic Landscapes, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney (AU)
2011
Bachelor of Fine Arts (student exchange), Cardiff School of Art & Design, The University of Wales Institute (UK)
residencies
2021
Artist-in-Residence, ARTERIE, Sydney Local Health District, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Sydney (AU)
2016
Artist-in-Residence, ŠILAINIAI PROJECT: public spaces, Kaunas (LT)
2014
Artist-in-Residence, ART PRINT RESIDENCE, Arenys de Munt, Barcelona (ES)
AWARDS + GRANTS
2024
Gane Grant for creative development, The Gane Trust (UK)
2015
Royston George Booker Scholarship (Grants-in-Aid) for overseas research, The University of Sydney (AU)
2014
Postgraduate Research Support Scholarship, The University of Sydney (AU)
2011
Jereome De Costa Memorial Award for outstanding academic achievement, The University of Sydney (AU)
Prizes
2019
Finalist, Dobell Drawing Prize #21, National Art School, Sydney (AU)
2019
Finalist, Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Sydney (AU)
2018
Finalist, Royal Art Society Young Artist Award, Lavender Bay Gallery, Sydney (AU)
2012
Finalist, Hornsby Art Prize, Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre, Sydney (AU)
2008
Winner, Unilever International Art Project, Tate Modern/National Theatre London (UK)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
States of Being, The Gallery | Norwest, Sydney (AU)
2018
Alice, Interrupted, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra (AU)
2017
Drawn-Out: trace and catharsis, SCA Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney (AU)
2014
TRACES, Alpha Gallery, Sydney (AU)
SELECTED SCREENINGS
2017
‘Drawn-Out’ (2017), MCA ARTBAR curated by Julie Rrap, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (AU)
‘Searching For Alice’ (2017), OFFoff Moving Word, CAMPO, Ghent (BE)
2015
‘Read Me’ (2015), OFFoff-ON: Moving Word Part I, Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent (BE)
‘Read Me’ (2015), Is This Art? Screening by dLux Media Arts, Shoalhaven City Arts Centre and Regional Gallery (AU)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Spectrum, One Paved Court, London (UK)
International Performance Drawing Series, DRAW Space, Sydney (AU)
Growing Season, Coven Collective, London (UK)
2019
Past and Present Tense, The Crypt Gallery (St Pancras), London (UK)
States and Senses, curated by Brooke Leigh, Kudos Gallery, Sydney (AU)
nevertheless she persisted, curated by Rhianna Walcott, Artereal Gallery (AU)
Dobell Drawing Prize #21, National Art School, Sydney (AU)
MANIC, UNSW Art & Design, The Big Anxiety Festival, Sydney (AU)
2018
#ALLTHEFEELS, curated by Rhianna Walcott, Artereal Gallery, Sydney (AU)
2017
Political Seducer’s Diary, curated by Joy Harris, Instagram Series, Performance Art Houston (US)
2016
The Course of Things Interrupted, Croxhapox, Ghent (BE)
OFF-off-ON: Moving Word Part II, Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent (BE)
Šilainiai Project: exhibition of international art residency, Kabinetas, Kaunas (LT)
Boundaries, TUMULT Festival, Ghent (BE)
A Performative Exhibition, Vooruit, Ghent (BE)
AL MÓN, Iluro Foundation, Mataró, Barcelona (ES)
FFFF, In De Ruimte, Ghent, BE
2015
Why So Serious?, NULNULTWEE, LUCA School of Arts, Ghent (BE)
BETWEEN THE LINES, curated by Brooke Leigh, Verge Gallery, Sydney (AU)
2014
Order/Disorder, Verge Gallery, Sydney (AU)
DRAWING ABROAD, curated by Brooke Leigh, galleryeight, Sydney (AU)
2013
Saatchi Screen, Saatchi Gallery, London (UK)
Art Alight! Fundraiser for the Victims of NSW Bushfires, Verge Gallery, Sydney (AU)
2008
Beauty and Difference: Worlds Apart, Unilever International Art Project, Tate Modern/National Theatre London (UK)
SOLO LIVE PERFORMANCES
‘Once, Again’, PACT: Salon: The Wild Things, curated by James Nguyen & Digby Webster, PACT Centre for Emerging Artists, Sydney (AU)
2017
‘Drawn-Out’, MCA ARTBAR curated by Julie Rrap, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (AU)
2016
‘BEGIN’, Croxhapox, Ghent (BE)
‘Fracturing Silence’, Croxhapox, Ghent (BE)
‘Sovereignty is Nothing’, public street, LT-48244, Kaunas (LT)
‘Silent’, OFF-off-ON: Moving Word Part II, Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent (BE)
‘I Am Here’, Venice International Performance Art Week – Workshop Series 2016, C32, Venice (IT)
COLLABORATIVE LIVE PERFORMANCES
2016
‘Chalk Dialogue’ (with Kimvi Nguyen), Draw to Perform 3: an international symposium for drawing performance, Crows Nest Gallery, London (UK)
‘mE/Us’ (with Hanna ten Doornkaat), Draw to Perform 3: an international symposium for drawing performance, Crows Nest Gallery, London (UK)
‘Po-po-pomo: a Discussion About Hyper-contemperaniety in Art’, Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston (UK)
TRAINING/MENTORSHIP
2016
Body as Autonomous Zone, THE SPACE, London, UK (48-hour intensive workshop mentored by performance artist Poppy Jackson)
Mayday – On the Praxis of Performance, International Performance Art Week Venice, IT (10-day intensive workshop mentored by VestandPage)
LUCA School of Arts Mixed Media residency at Destelheide, Dworp, Ghent, BE (performance workshop with performer Marc Iglesias; audio workshop with sound artist Johan Vandermaelen)
2015
Drawing Becomes Performance, Goldsmiths University, London, UK (workshop with Draw to Perform curator Ram Samocha)
PUBLICATIONS AS AUTHOR
2022
Leigh, B., ‘Trace and Catharsis: Embodied drawing’, Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice, 7:1, (2022): 79–98. Bristol: Intellect Books.
Leigh, B., In The Zero Of Form: a solo exhibition by Hanna ten Doornkaat, exhibition catalogue essay (2018), One Paved Court, London, UK.
Leigh, B., Drawn-Out: trace and catharsis, unpublished Master of Fine Arts thesis (2018), Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney.
2016
Carlson, B., ‘Time trace: A drawn perception’, Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice 1:2, (2016): 223–234. Bristol: Intellect Books.
Carlson, B., ‘Moving Marks’, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 115 (Winter 2016). Massachusetts: MIT Press.
2014
Carlson, B., ‘DRAWING ABROAD’, self-published catalogue essay (June 2014), Gallery Eight, Sydney.
2012
Carlson, B., Automatic Landscapes, unpublished Honours Research Paper (2012), Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney.
CONFERENCES
2014
POPCAANZ Journal of Popular Arts of Australia and New Zealand
Presented research paper entitled, Experiencing The Optical Unconscious at POPCAANZ annual conference in Hobart, Tasmania
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019
Fairely, Gina. “Review: Dobell Drawing Prize 21”, Visual ArtsHub Australia, 1 April 2019
2018
Clement, Tracey. “Alice, Interrupted”, preview, Art Guide Australia, May 2018.
Jeannette Joy Harris and Steven Martz. “Performing a Seduction: Performance Art Houston’s ‘Political Seducer’s Diary’”, Political Animal Magazine (online), 14 January 2018
2015
Lorange, Astrid. Between The Lines, self-published exhibition catalogue, Verge Gallery, Sydney.
Strevens, Luke. “To Draw”, DRAWING ABROAD, self-published exhibition catalogue, Gallery Eight, Sydney.
2014
McBurnie, Jonathan. “Brooke Carlson: Traces”, SNEAKY Magazine (online), 11 August 2014.
ARTIST TALKS
2022
Artist-in-Residence Talk + Tour, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse (27 April 2022)
With speaker Gail O’Brien OA, Patient Liaison Advocate
2019
States and Senses, Kudos Gallery (11 May 2019)
In conversation with Noula Diamantopoulos, Sylvia Griffin, Markela Panegyres and Cecilia White
Dobell Drawing Prize #21, National Art School (27 March 2019)
In conversation with Judith Blackall, Scott Elliot, Jonathan McBurnie and Locust Jones
2018
Alice, Interrupted, Canberra Contemporary Art Space (24 June 2018)
Artist Talk to accompany solo exhibition
2016
ŠILAINIAI PROJECTS, BALTŲ PROSPEKTAS, Kaunas, Lithuania (27 JULY 2016)
ARTIST TALK AND DISCUSSION OF ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE EXPERIENCE
2015
Between The Lines, Verge Gallery (16 May 2015)
In conversation with Dr Astrid Lorange, Sara Morawetz and Jonathan McBurnie
Bachelor of Arts (Education), Macquarie University (4 June 2015)
Presentation for the Creative Arts unit directed by Dr Bronwen Wade-Leeuwen
2014
Drawing Abroad, Gallery Eight (4 May 2014)
In conversation with Miles Hall, Melissa Howe and Jonathan McBurnie
INTERVIEWS
2019
Gillian Kayrooz, “Culture Guide,” FBI Radio, Sydney, 6 May 2019
Interview with Brooke Leigh and Sylvia Griffin on States and Senses exhibition
Michael Sun, “Culture Guide,” FBI Radio, Sydney, 8 February 2019
Interview with Georgia Saxelby and Brooke Leigh on Nevertheless, she persisted exhibition
SELECTED EMPLOYMENT
2023– pres.
School Workshop Artist Educator, Royal Academy Of Arts, London, (UK)
2022– pres.
Artist Studio Assistant (digital), Justin Trendall, remote
2024–pres.
Personal Assistant + Support Worker to neurodivergent artist with complex needs, Balham (UK)
2023– pres.
Gallery Assistant, South London Gallery, London (UK)
2024
Workshop Facilitator, The Ripple Effect: dementia workshop series, Drawing Voices, Hertfordshire (UK)
2020-2022
Psychosocial Disability + Peer Support Worker, National Disability Insurance Scheme, Sydney (AU)
2020-2021
Artist Educator, Experimental Drawing workshop series, Live, Love, Learn, Sydney (AU)
VOLUNTEER WORK
2021
Artist Facilitator, Art + Mindfulness sessions for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy groups, Wesley Mission Hospital, Ashfield (AU)
2020
Arterie – Professional Arts and Health Internship Program, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Local Health District, (AU)
Collections
2022
Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Sydney Local Health District (AU)
BROOKE LEIGH’S WORKS ARE HELD IN VARIOUS PRIVATE COLLECTIONS THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA, FRANCE, BELGIUM & THE UK