Cassandra Laing

Cassandra Laing (1968–2007) was an Australian artist from Melbourne[1] whose best-known works are large photorealistic pencil drawings with themes of death, transience, astronomy, heredity, and origami.[2]

Life

Laing was born in Melbourne in 1968.[3]

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, after her older sister Amanda and a grandmother had already died of the disease. She turned to pencil drawing because painting had become too difficult for her, using her concentration on her work as an escape from the pain of her cancer.[2]

She died on 22 September 2007, in Melbourne.[3]

Works

Laing listed Vija Celmins as an inspiration for her own work,[2] which included the following.

  • "A Charmed Life" is a drawing of a charm bracelet she had shared with her sister,[2] and "Shadow Monkeys" is another fictional charm bracelet decorated with monkeys, in reference to works on the theory of evolution by Richard Dawkins.[2] "Shadow Monkeys" was a finalist for the 2006 Dobell Drawing Prize.[4]
  • "Darwin's Girls" depicts a dead finch on top of a photograph of Laing and her sister as young girls. The finch is a reference to Darwin's finches, Darwin's theory of natural selection, and the inherited tendency for cancer that would eventually kill Laing.[1][2]
  • "Fortune teller (it will all end in stars)" shows Laing's hands holding a paper fortune teller decorated with the Andromeda Galaxy, recalling childhood games with her sister and foretelling her own death.[2][5]
  • "My Paper Ancestors" repeats the finch from "Darwin's Girls", with a paper dinosaur, a reference to "extinction on a larger scale".[2] Similarly, "Last Migration" features origami pteranodons, flying above images of Antarctica by Frank Hurley.[2]
  • "No Time to Waste" is a drawing of an origami star decorated with stars.[6][7]
  • "Stargazer" depicts Eleanor Arroway, the main character of the 1997 film Contact (as played by Jodie Foster) with the universe spread behind her, on a crumpled and unfolded sheet of origami paper.[5]

Regarding the themes of astronomy and origami in her works, Laing stated "I found it more comforting to think of stars being born and dying and us being dragged into that cosmic sort of force ... the less significant I felt, the more happy I was. I can sit here and fold this star, but that's about all I can control. Time runs out."[2]

Exhibits and collections

A solo exhibit of Laing's astronomical paintings, Amanda Nebula, was held at the George Paton Gallery of the University of Melbourne in 2002.[8]

Laing's works have been featured in the group shows Shared Sky at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2009,[9][10][11] I walk the line : new Australian drawing at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in 2009,[12][7] and Namedropping at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart in 2024–2025.[13]

Her work "Darwin’s Girls" is in the collection of the Museum of Old and New Art.[1][14] "The Quiet Cretaceous" is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Spring, Alexandra (1 July 2011), "The Black Swan: Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art", Alexandra Spring: Features, interviews and essays, retrieved 2025-07-21
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Coslovich, Gabriella (28 March 2007), "Endless matter of life and death", The Age, retrieved 2025-07-21
  3. ^ a b "Cassandra Laing", Australian Prints + Printmaking, Centre for Australian Art, retrieved 2025-07-21
  4. ^ Dobell Prize for Drawing 2006, Art Gallery of New South Wales, retrieved 2025-07-21
  5. ^ a b Wacker, Kelly A., ed. (2021), Baroque Tendencies in Contemporary Art, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. xi, ISBN 9781527565661
  6. ^ "No Time to Waste", Artbank, retrieved 2025-07-21
  7. ^ a b I Walk the Line: New Australian Drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2009, retrieved 2025-07-21
  8. ^ Amanda Nebula (PDF), George Paton Gallery, 2002, retrieved 2025-07-21
  9. ^ Gilchrist, Stephen; Holland, Allison (2009), "Shared Sky", IMPRINT Magazine, 44 (2), retrieved 2025-07-21
  10. ^ Shared Sky, National Gallery of Victoria, 3 March 2009, retrieved 2025-07-21
  11. ^ Purnell, Freya (May 2009), "Celebrating the International Year of Astronomy: Shared Sky" (PDF), Museums Australia, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 18–19, retrieved 2025-07-21
  12. ^ I walk the line : new Australian drawing : Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 17 March-24 May 2009 / [curator, Christine Morrow] (Catalog entry), National Library of Australia, retrieved 2025-07-21
  13. ^ Gaskin, Sam (19 June 2024), "Mona Asks, What's in a Namedrop?", Ocula, retrieved 2025-07-21
  14. ^ Downes, Briony (31 January 2024), "The continuing evolution of Mona", Art Guide Australia, retrieved 2025-07-21
  15. ^ Year in Review 2023/24 (PDF), Art Gallery of Ballarat, retrieved 2025-07-21
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