Janet Laurence is one of the most established and respected artists of her generation. For over forty years she has been creating new departures in her artistic enquiry producing paintings, sculptures, photography, site-specific installations and architectural intervention. Laurence is not an artist easily categorised; her work skirts the boundaries of art, science, architecture, nature, the imagined world, history and memory. Laurence examines the complex relationships between natural environments and organic phenomena with manmade constructions and the built environment. When referencing architectural forms or the practice of photography, Laurence maintains a distinct sense of the organic and creates a transient hybrid form which corresponds neither solely to the laws of nature or science. Like an alchemist, Laurence displays a fascination with blending materials, resulting in poetic, thought provoking pieces.
Laurence frequently employs screens and veils in her artwork which act as metaphors for memory and history. Their transparent quality recalls the passing of time and the constantly changing status of the natural world. Whether creating massive installations referencing greenhouses or small handheld photographic works, the use of translucent layers lend the pieces meditative reflections and contemplative shadows. Laurence displays a deep ecological understanding of the environment and the precarious place of humans within it, ultimately inspiring awe in the viewer when presented with the magnitude of the natural world.
Janet Laurence exhibits her work around the world and her impressive public exhibition record includes the 2010 Sydney Biennale, the 9th Biennale of Sydney in 1992 and Australian Perspecta (1985, 1991, 1997). Her work has been included in several Australian survey exhibitions and in 2006 a monograph of the artist was published by Pesaro. Laurence has executed numerous public commissions and international projects including: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Australian War Memorial, Canberra; The Edge of the Trees (with Fiona Foley), Museum of Sydney; award-winning windows for the Central Synagogue, Sydney; In the Shadow, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games; a permanent display at the Melbourne Museum and the Australian War Memorial (with Tonkin Zulaikha Greer architects) in Hyde Park, London.
Major commissioned works include: The Australian War Memorial (in collaboration with TZG Architects), Hyde Park, London; Tarkine for a World in Need of Wilderness Macquarie Bank London, In the Shadow, Sydney 2000 Olympic Park; Waterveil, CH2 Building for Melbourne City Council, Elixir, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Japan; and Memory of Lived Spaces, T3 Terminal Changi Singapore.
Key collections include: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Art Gallery SA, Adelaide; Artbank Australia Macquarie Bank Collection, Kunstwerk Summlung Klein, Germany as well as numerous university, corporate and private collections nationally and internationally. In 2012 the AGNSW acquired a major installation work ‘The Memory of Nature’, as part of the permanent collection.
