Marian Drew is one of Australia’s most significant photomedia artists, with a practice spanning more than 30 years. She is known for her evocative photographic works that blend still life, landscape, and portraiture with historical and cultural references, and is particularly recognised for her carefully staged tableaux. Her work sits at the intersection of fine art photography and conceptual practice, often drawing on traditions of European painting. Her practice is also closely associated with vanitas imagery, exploring themes of mortality, abundance, and decay—most notably in her Australiana Still Life series (2003–2011).
Based in Brisbane, Drew has been closely connected to the academic and artistic community at the Queensland College of Art and Design, where she has taught photography (1986-2016). She was also founding member of the Queensland Centre for Photography and active during its operations from 2004 until 2014, with her work showcasing in international art fairs such as photoLA and the London Art Fair. Drew has held more than 35 solo exhibitions across Australia, the United States, France, Hong Kong, and Germany, and has been included in over 100 group exhibitions internationally, including in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, China, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Peru, and the United States.
Recent exhibitions include What Lasts Doesn’t Always Hold Shape at James Stirling’s No.1 Poultry, London, 2026, Cloudy with a Chance of Art at HOTA, Home of the Arts (2026); Volatile Terrain at The Condensery (2025); Horizons at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery (2025); Shifter at Lake Macquarie Museum of Art and Culture, NSW, Food in Art at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (2024); New Light: Photography Now + Then at Museum of Brisbane (2024); and Materiality But Not As We Know It at Canberra Museum and Gallery (2024).
She represented Australia in the First Asia Pacific Triennial in 1993, Dubai Photo, 2016, Musée du Quai Branly, PhotoQuai, Paris 2011, and the Pingyao International Photography Festival, China 2010. She was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy, School of Art and Design, ANU, College of Arts and Social Sciences in 2023, completed a Bachelor of Visual Art in 1984 at the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University, and was awarded a German Government Scholarship from the German government DAAD to study Experimental Photography, at Kassel University, Germany. The Dyason Bequest administered by the NSW Art Gallery assisted her studies in the major art collections of Europe.
She has received several commissions that include the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Brisbane Magistrates Court, Brisbane Festival, Museum of Brisbane, and Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Great Walks, and completed Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts) international residencies in Los Angeles (1994) and New York (1989 and 2011).
Her artwork is held in major collections that include the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Museum of Photographic Art, San Diego, Fonds National D’ArtContemporain (FNAC), Paris, France, Artbank, National Gallery of Australia, Victorian National Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Monash Gallery of Art, University of Queensland Art Museum, Griffith, Murdoch and Curtin Universities.
