More on Janet Laurence…
Laurence is contemporary Australian artist who works across a range of media
and genres (expressive forms.) Laurence is probably best known for her sitespecific installations. These are frequently involved with ecological themes or
issues. The title of this work, Waiting: a medicinal garden for ailing plants,
indicates for us that the artist has sought to create a place of healing. Once again,
her installations perform a double role: artwork, and rehabilitation space.
Janet Laurence, Waiting: a medicinal garden for ailing plants, site-specific installation in
Sydney Botanic Gardens for Biennale of Sydney 2010
Various Australian native plants were selected, and housed within this white structure. The
separation into different sections is somewhat reminiscent of a museum display, or even
like wards in a hospital. (The title phrase ‘ailing plants’ gives us a clue about the concerns
of the work. ) There is a ‘maternity / fertility’ section which houses various seeds; an
‘intensive care unit’ for plants that are seriously ill; and a mortuary section which houses
dead plants.
All the living plants are connected
by tubes, and water is pumped
through to them using a solarpowered pump. They are mostly in
glass vials or containers of some
sort. The room is filled with light.
In the course of creating this work, Laurence consulted with plant experts from the
Botanic Gardens. The plants that she uses that are sick could have been be a risk to
healthy plants both in the structure and in the Botanic Garden. Because of this, they had
to be covered in a semi-transparent, veiling material. This obviously introduces another
formal aspect to the work. Fortunately, this worked in well with Laurence’s ideas. We
have seen this veiling before….
Waiting: a medicinal garden for ailing
plants, details.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work Wrapped Trees, Reihen Switzerland 1997-8
involved the wrapping of trees with a semi-transparent material. Of that project, they
said: “The branches of the Wrapped Trees pushed the translucent fabric outward and
created dynamic volumes of light and shadow and moving in the wind with new
forms and surfaces shaped by the ropes on the fabric.”
(http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/wrapped-trees)
It seems they were primarily concerned with the formal aspects of the work, and simply
creating beauty. Laurence’s work is beautiful and carefully composed as well, but the
context of this veiling (that is, how it’s presented; the environment, the other
compositional strategies) changes the meaning. Aspects such as the scale, and the fact
of it being one small structure inside another, rather than outside in the landscape also
affects how meaning is conveyed. Also Laurence’s structure looks like a highly controlled
environment.
Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped
Trees, Reihen Switzerland 1997-8
Laurence also often uses glass in her work. We saw this in In the shadow; Edge of
the Trees; Veil of trees, as well as Waiting: a medicinal garden for ailing plants.
Glass is clear. It’s usually deliberately placed in front of an artwork or valuable
display. It’s designed as a barrier to protect something precious. Or it’s used as a
window, a portal between inside and outside. Either way, it’s designed with the
viewer in mind. A viewer is imagined.
However it’s not as simple as that: glass can also reflect. There can be a sense of
confusion of imagery…is what I’m seeing actually inside, or a reflection of what is
behind me? Laurence has played with this confusion in her works. It is a
postmodern idea, this deliberate confusion of where the art is vs. where the
world is. It is a challenge to the idea of the art object. She also likes to blur the
boundary between nature and man-made structure.
Veil of trees, , 1999, installation in the Domain, Sydney. Use of seeds and
ash embedded in glass panels, amongst the growing trees. The panels are
etched with poetry and writings about trees by Australian authors.
Janet Laurence & Fiona Foley,
Edge of the Trees, 1995, detail
showing glass panel embedded
in steel frame. >>>>
Laurence has said of her own work
that it ‘echoes architecture.’
Waiting: a medicinal garden is an
artwork not only to look at, but to
experience physically. You walk
through this structure. This means
that you are experiencing the
artwork over time. This
compositional strategy has of
course been used deliberately. We
see this also in Edge of the Trees
(pictured) and In the shadow.
What effect can it have on us, as an
audience, to experience something
over time, and with our bodies
rather than simply through our
vision as we stand in front of it?
Laurence often uses actual plants or plant materials (seeds, etc.) – what
meaning can be conveyed by the use of plants or animals in an artwork?
In the shadow, 2000, installation in
Homebush Bay creek, detail.
Adriaen van Utrecht, (Belgium, c. 1599 c. 1652) Still-Life with a Bouquet and a Skull, 1642
Laurence’s work has been called ‘Environmental Art’ for
obvious reasons. It is also like Land Art from the middle 20th
century (Walter de Maria; Robert Smithson.) It has obvious
connections with Christo & Jeanne-Claude.
Like Conceptual Art we’ve seen from earlier periods,
Laurence’s work often involves series; text; repetition;
classification; lists; grouping; naming. There is an imposition
of logic and ideas upon the elements of her work.
With Sol LeWitt’s instructions for his Wall Drawings there was
the emphasis on the idea behind the art which challenged
audiences to consider precisely what the art object was;
Joseph Kosuth’s work Titled: Art as idea as idea (1966) used
text to question how a symbol of a thing could come to
represent a thing.
Joseph Kosuth (U.S. b.
1945), Titled. Art as idea
as idea (water), 1966.
Photocopy, mounted on
board, 121.9 x 121.9 cm
Waiting: a medicinal garden for ailing plants,
2010 ‘mortuary’ detail.
Sense of place
It has been said that Laurence’s work enhances a sense of place. Much of
her work interacts with architecture in some way, or is in fact architectural
itself. Often she been commissioned to create a work which is site-specific
to some building or cultivated space. There is often an emphasis on the
Natural world around us. What do we think ‘sense of place’ could mean
with regard to Laurence’s work?
Janet Laurence, Translucidus,
installation at QANTAS lounge,
Sydney Airport, 2002
This work uses glass and transparent
images of cloudscapes are printed
onto the glass, along with text which
are descriptions of various types of
clouds. The word ‘translucidus’ is a
type of transparent cloud where you
can still see the sun, or moon, through
it.
HSC Questions…..
Q: Explore how place stimulates Clarice Beckett’s practice
in Plates 1 and 2. (Question 1 out of 3. Suggestion of 9
minutes; worth 5 marks out of 25.)
<<< Plate 2: Clarice Beckett,
1887–1935, Australia, painting
on reverse side of Bathers,
Beaumaris, oil on board, 39.2 ×
29.5 cm.
Plate 1: Clarice Beckett, 1887–
1935, Australia, Bathers,
Beaumaris, c. 1925–1930
oil on canvas on board 39.2 × 29.5
cm.
Resources
John McDonald Essay: http://johnmcdonald.net.au/2012/janet-laurence/
Janet Laurence’s beautiful website: http://www.janetlaurence.com/
Article from Habitus Magazine: http://www.janetlaurence.com/wp-content/uploads/habitas.pdf