brownwork #7, from the series brownwork

Rosemary Laing is one of the most influential artists of her generation. Born in Brisbane in 1959, Laing has a Diploma of Art Education from Brisbane College of Advanced Education (1976-79), a Diploma of Art from Tasmanian School of Art (1982) and a Post Graduate Diploma from Sydney College of the Arts (1990-1). In 1996 she completed with first class honours a Masters of Fine Arts at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.

In 'brownwork' Laing turns her attention to the structures that facilitate air travel. Photographing empty airfreight containers and cargo in transit from above, she examines the industrial and in-between spaces where flight occurs. The processes and machinery that make travel possible are often obscured by the mask of technological efficiency, but here Laing exposes them.

Through travel we transcend the boundaries of time and space; far flung destinations become adjacent neighbours and time folds back on itself. Revealing the labour and resources involved from unfamiliar vantage points, Laing dramatises the mechanics of this transitory state.