This was the opening paragraph, written by curator Victoria Lynn, for the catalogue accompanying Rosemary Laing’s exhibition swansongs, at Tolarno Galleries in March of this year. Ironically the title was apt. It was Laing’s last exhibition before her untimely death after a short illness at age 65.
The Australian photographer and former educator originally trained as a painter and brought a certain sensibility of the painter’s hand to her practice.
Photography enabled her to challenge how we think about social, cultural, and historical issues because of the medium’s relationship to reality.
Her unique approach engaged with the nature of place, inhabitation and Australia’s colonial history, but also to technology, time and speed – elements seen in her work since the 1980s.
