JANET LAURENCE interviewed by Radio Adelaide

JANET LAURENCE features in a fantastic interview with Radio Adelaide about her time at Casey Research Station as the 2021 Antarctic Arts Fellow.

Explaining the process of creating her new series "Ice has a memory and the colour is blue" Laurence remarks,

“I had a studio in the science building, and one of the glaciologists came in which a huge chunk of ice for me to make artwork with. I suddenly went oh god I can actually use Antarctic glacial ice to make works. So, I made a series about ice melting which I thought was a fantastic metaphor about climate change.”

JANET LAURENCE, Ice has a memory, and the memory is blue, from the ‘Ice has a memory, and the memory is blue’ series, Antartica, 2022, Chromogenic print, Edition of 3 + 1 A/P, 120 x 180 cm.

JANET LAURENCE features in the exhibition 'Earth Canvas' at The National Museum of Australia

JANET LAURENCE features in the new exhibition 'Earth Canvas' at The National Museum of Australia with her work 'Notes from the land: Biodiversity'.

"Earth Canvas showcases works by leading contemporary artists, developed in response to regenerative farming on properties situated between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers in southern New South Wales.

The exhibition explores the creative experiences of regenerative farmers and the artists who spent time with them, their engagement with the land and their vision for a healthier world."

Janet Laurence, Notes from the land: Biodiversity, 2020, images printed on transparency floating about a mirror surface within an acrylic box.

Congratulations to ARC ONE Bowness Photography Prize Finalists!

CONGRATULATIONS are in order!

Janet Laurence, Cyrus Tang, Lydia Wegner, Honey Long and Prue Stent have all been shortlisted for the prestigious 2022 Bowness Photography Prize.

The Bowness exhibition opens 29 September. However, if you can't wait that long, please visit ARC ONE where these fantastic artists are currently on display in our Viewing Room.

JANET LAURENCE at Gippsland Art Gallery

Janet Laurence, Zylum Flow, 2022, C-Type Photograph, aluminum, 100 x 156 cm.

JANET LAURENCE features in Gippsland Art Galleries latest exhibition Fragile Earth: Extinction with her work 'Zylum Flow'.

Curated by Louisa Waters and Melanie Caple the exhibition draws together the work of 60 artists as part of a new series of biennial exhibitions that will each explore different aspects of our changing climate and its effects on life on earth.

Open until August 28.

JANET LAURENCE at TOWN HALL GALLERY

Janet Laurence, ‘Breath of the Forest’ from the ‘Theatre of Trees’ series, 2020, Silk Voile di-sublimation print, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist and ARC ONE Gallery.

JANET LAURENCE is included in the upcoming exhibition ‘Above the Canopy’ at Town Hall Gallery.

‘Above the Canopy’ is a major exhibition celebrating the rich and diverse beauty of the Australian natural environment.

Through hyperreal images of lush and verdant forests alongside detailed studies of insects, botany, birds and geology, the exhibition shows a deep appreciation for our majestic and awe-inspiring world.

JANET LAURENCE speaking at the NATIONAL ART SCHOOL

JANET LAURENCE is speaking this week at The National Art School in a talk titled "What Can Art Do?"

The presentation will include an exclusive look into the artist’s three week project in Antartica at Casey research station, as the most recent Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow. As well as insights into her career focus on environmental actions and climate change.

JANET LAURENCE at HEIDE MoMA

JANET LAURENCE, Carbon Capture (From the series Landscape and Residue), 2008, Duraclear burnt wood, pigment on acrylic and mirror, 100 x 200 cm

JANET LAURENCE’S artwork Carbon Capture: From the series Landscape and Residue is included in a current exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Listening to Music Played Backwards: Recent Acquisitions’ celebrates works in the Heide collection acquired over the past decade.

Open until July 31

JANET LAURENCE featured in exhibition ‘Destination Sydney'

Installation view of Janet Laurence’s ‘Entangled Garden for Plant Memory’ series in exhibition ‘Destination Sydney: The natural world’ at Mosman Art Gallery.

A collection of works from the series, ‘Entangled Garden for Plant Memory’, by JANET LAURENCE, are currently on show in the exhibition, ‘Destination Sydney: The natural world’, at Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney until 20 March.

Presented as part of Sydney Festival 2022, Destination Sydney: The natural world is the third exhibition in a series of collaborations planned between three Sydney public galleries, Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Mosman Art Gallery and the National Trust’s S. H. Ervin. Over the summer of 2015-2016 they jointly presented the unprecedented collaborative exhibition project, Destination Sydney, which became a hugely successful project for each gallery, soon followed by the equally triumphant Destination Sydney: Reimagined held in the summer 2018-2019.

Like its preceding exhibitions The natural world  showcases artworks responding to the theme of Sydney as a place of creative endeavours, with a strong focus on the work of major Australian women artists, all connected by their concern for landscape, the natural world and the environment. 

Destination Sydney: The natural world presents the work of a select group of key Australian artists whose art practice has become synonymous with the natural world. Artists at Mosman Art Gallery include Janet Laurence, Caroline Rothwell and Robyn Stacey.

JANET LAURENCE ARTIST TALK WITH CHANG WAN-CHEN

JANET LAURENCE was in conversation with Chang Wan-Chen in an online event on Friday 24 September, as part of Humanities within Natural History, Anthropocene Art Talks.

As part of this talk, Laurence and Chang Wan-chen, the curator of Laurence’s solo exhibition Entangled Garden for Plant Memory at the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan (2020), explored the sensitive landscape of nature through both scientific and artistic engagements.

More information >

Chang Wan-chen & Janet Laurence at the opening of Entangled Garden for Plant Memory at the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan, 2020.

Chang Wan-chen & Janet Laurence at the opening of Entangled Garden for Plant Memory at the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art in Taiwan, 2020.

JANET LAURENCE'S 'REQUIEM' ACQUIRED BY THE NGA

ARC ONE Gallery is thrilled to announce that JANET LAURENCE’S Requiem has been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia.

This remarkable work was recently featured in Know My Name: Part One at the NGA.

Requiem is a work of great complexity and scale. It is underpinned by a deep love by this artist who has devoted her artistic practice to the overwhelming importance of the natural world. Made in the wake of the 2019-20 bushfires, a hailstorm that shattered the glasshouses of the CSIRO and a global pandemic, this work draws together elements and specimens from nature as a lament for a world in danger and a call for greater awareness of environmental issues.

ARC ONE is delighted to have been the principle facilitator of this major acquisition.

“The work is like a Memento Mori. It is about what we’ve lost and are continuing to lose. It is also a piece about memory and how it distils and alters reality. This parallels nature’s ability for transformation.”
– Janet Laurence

“'Requiem' has an angelic weight that calls attention to the fragility of the natural world. This is a significant work that will resonate throughout history for many people greatly connected to ideas of time and the gravitas of nature.”
– Fran Clark, Director, ARC ONE Gallery

Images: Janet Laurence, Requiem, 2020, perspex, found materials, Know My Name: Part One installation view, National Gallery of Australia, 2020.

JANET LAURENCE SHOWING IN GERMANY

JANET LAURENCE’s video work Vanishing is on display at KulturForum Ansbach in Art from Elsewhere, an exhibition in real space of digital and video works from the Momentum Berlin Collection.

Art from Elsewhere focuses on global issues through video work and installation, reflecting on the environmental traumas we inflict on our planet and its creatures and exploring the (un)quiet poetry of the day-to-day.

Vanishing is Janet Lauence’s first video work, made during a residency at @tarongazoo. It shows close-up footage of threatened mammal species, and the rise and fall of their breathing flanks. Originally shown as a two-screen installation, this single channel version was specially released for the Momentum Collection.

Art from Elsewhere continues until 25 July.

More information >

Janet Laurence, Vanishing, 2009. Installation view, Janet Laurence: After Nature, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2019.  Single-channel video, sound, 9 minutes (looped). Collection of the artist. Image courtesy the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist. Photograph: Zan Wimberley

Janet Laurence, Vanishing, 2009. Installation view, Janet Laurence: After Nature, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2019.  Single-channel video, sound, 9 minutes (looped). Collection of the artist. Image courtesy the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist. Photograph: Zan Wimberley

JANET LAURENCE SPEAKS ON JOHN OLSEN

Tomorrow Saturday 19 June at 2pm, JANET LAURENCE will speak at the National Art School exhibition John Olsen: Goya’s Dog.

Drawing on the central importance of critical dialogue, friendship and inspiration shared between fellow artists, the 'Artists x Artists’ talk series brings leading Australian artists into the NAS Gallery to talk about their interpretations, experiences and interactions with the work of Dr John Olsen AO OBE. 

John Olsen: Goya’s Dog is a powerful exploration of an extraordinary Australian artist – from his creative awakening in Spain, through the darkness that threatened to overwhelm him at times, and his ability to reach for the light, pursuing a long and acclaimed career.

Book a ticket >

Image 1: Janet Laurence photographed by Christopher Pearce; Image 2: John Olsen, Reflections on Goya’s dog III (detail), 2021, acrylic on Belgian linen

JANET LAURENCE REFERENCED IN NEW BOOK

Award-winning author and art historian Janine Burke has written a new book, My Forests: Travels with Trees. Published by Melbourne Uni Publishing, My Forests offers an enchanting and illuminating meander along forest trails within art, myth, history and present day.

Reflecting on JANET LAURENCE'S Forest (Theatre of Trees) recently exhibited at the MCA, Burke writes:

"I’m in a forest in a gallery. It’s a labyrinth made of drifting voile curtains in tones of mauve and silver, imprinted with towering images of trees. It reaches from ceiling to floor. Though in a public place, this forest makes me feel sequestered. It’s shadowy; tantalising. What’s around the bend? Revelation? A nasty surprise? I think of Little Red Riding Hood and the other fairytale children whose exploration of the forest symbolises maturity, courage and independence. The trek into the unconscious, the reward of self-knowledge, a process psychologist Bruno Bettelheim described as “the uses of enchantment”. As I follow the circular path, the tree-curtains move gently in my wake."


My Forests: Travels with Trees is available to purchase here.

JANET LAURENCE AT S.H. ERVIN GALLERY

Janet Laurence. ‘Tree of Knowledge’, 2021, mixed media installation

Janet Laurence. ‘Tree of Knowledge’, 2021, mixed media installation

JANET LAURENCE is featured in the new show at S.H. Ervin Gallery, ‘TREE of LIFE: a testament to endurance’.

Opening today, this group exhibition led by First Nations artists will generate a fresh, positive energy towards the reclamation of diminishing natural resources. Threads woven through 'Tree of Life' will recognise the deep spiritual and physical associations that connect all forms of life – life that must be nurtured as we chart a course of action through this perilous age of climate change, pandemics and wildfires.

The exhibition will continue until 30 May.

More information >

JANET LAURENCE IN MUMA SHOW

Janet Laurence, Conversations with Trees (detail), 2020, duraclear prints and dibond mirror, 120 × 80 cm

Janet Laurence, Conversations with Trees (detail), 2020, duraclear prints and dibond mirror, 120 × 80 cm

JANET LAURENCE is featured in MUMA Monash exhibition Tree Story, opening tomorrow.

Tree Story brings together creative practices from around the world to create a ‘forest’ of ideas relating to critical environmental and sustainability issues. At its foundation—or roots—are Indigenous ways of knowing and a recognition of trees as our ancestors and family. An exhibition, publication and podcast series, Tree Story takes inspiration from the underground networks, information sharing and mutual support understood to exist within tree communities, and poses the question: what can we learn from trees and the importance of Country?

Janet’s exhibited artwork Conversations with Tree’, is based on work that she undertook for her solo exhibition in Taiwan last year. Images of the forest are printed on transparent duraclear and suspended in front of mirrors, recalling greenhouse windows or museum display cases—forms of mediation of nature.

Tree Story continues at Monash University Museum of Art until 10 April.

More information >

JANET LAURENCE CURATES WEEK-LONG PROGRAM AT SYDNEY FESTIVAL

JANET LAURENCE curated a fantastic programme of events for REQUIEM at the Sydney Festival 2021. Within the ethereal inner chamber of the Paddington Reservoir Gardens on Gadigal land, Janet has curated a stellar line-up of artists and talks exploring how we can mourn and remember the inestimable loss - of animals, of flora, of ecological worlds - wrought by the black summer fires of 2019-2020.

REQUIEM wove together visual art, music, poetry, performance, literature, science, philosophy and environmental advocacy to craft a time-space for us to lament and be present to the reality of loss. Janet also created a new work for the event – ‘Water Bar’ was glistening installation of waters from bushfire-affected regions is an ode to lost aquatic ecosystems.

More information >

JANET LAURENCE CREATES MASK FOR ANNIVERSARY OF PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT

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To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, JANET LAURENCE was invited to make a mask for the Art for Change Maskbook campaign.
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Maskbook is an international, collective work of art which raises awareness about the link between health, air pollution and climate change, using the mask as a symbol. Originally created for the COP21 in 2015, Maskbook has been featured at every Climate COP since.
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Janet fashioned a beautiful ginkgo leaf creation for the face of the campaign, Layne Beachley.

Check out the other masks here!

JANET LAURENCE 'EARTH CANVAS' EXHIBITION OPEN

Earth Canvas, an exhibition featuring JANET LAURENCE,  is now open at Albury City Library Museum.

This exhibition displays works by leading contemporary artists, developed in response to regenerative farming properties situated between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers in southern NSW.

Inspired by their immersive contact with both the farmer and the landscape, the artists reveal a mutual creativity, appreciation and understanding of the natural forces that sustain us. 

Janet says of the work she has created for the project:

“My work has been evolving slowly, moving between a performative project held onsite at Yabtree West, and a series of exhibition works that trace the complex symbiotic processes that are being nurtured by Rebecca on the farm. The great trees along the river have taken root in my memory and remain the dominant theme throughout the work. These trees for me express hope and habitat.”

The exhibition was officially launched by Patrice Newell, Phillip Adams and Gill Sanbrook, together with the exhibition curator and some of the artists and farmers involved in the project. Watch the virtual launch here.

More information >