Laurence’s ‘Conversations with Trees I’ offers a richly-detailed portrait of a tree, presented in a negative image that has been dye-sublimated onto aluminium. This creates a luminous surface that draws attention to knots and grooves in the bark. Through her images, Laurence tries to acquaint others with an intimate view of nature, inciting viewers to pause and recognise the urgency to protect old trees. Prudence Gibson explains, “This is vegetal time, longer and deeper than human time. Tree root communication, seasonal changes, leaf nodes emitting chemicals – these are processes that follow a creeping hand of time.”
Janet Laurence is one of Australia’s most respected contemporary artists. She creates ethereal works that are research-based and sensitive to the natural world. Just in the past two years, Laurence has realised solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia (2019), the Alexander Koenig Zoological Museum in Bonn, Germany (2019), the Art Gallery of New South Wales in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2018), and the Yu-Hsiu Museum of Art, Taiwan (2020).