It is with excitement that we are proud to announce that Janet Laurence has been announced as the winner of the Professional Artist category, for her chromogenic print artwork, Moss Water Ice Temperature Rising, winning $35,000 in the process.
Patron and judge Jade Oakley praised Laurence’s winning piece for presenting “a powerful message about climate change, addressing notions of care and healing for our natural world.”
For over 30 years, Janet Laurence has explored the interconnection of all living things – animal, plant, mineral – through her multi-disciplinary practice. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video, she has employed diverse materials to explore the natural world in all its beauty and complexity, as well as the environmental challenges it faces today: the epoch of the Anthropocene.
Laurence’s practice has encompassed small objects through to vast installations. Increasingly, in recent years, she has worked beyond the museum’s walls to transform public sites through her immersive installations and environments using evocative natural materials such as ash, minerals and oxides, living plant matter, corals, taxidermy birds, and more. Researching historical collections and drawing on the rich holdings of natural history museums, her practice has, over time, brought together various conceptual threads, from an exploration of threatened creatures and environments to notions of healing and physical, as well as cultural, restoration.
Beyond the major category winners, the 2025 prize introduced six new Highly Commended Awards of $1,000 each (supported by Community Bank Lindfield), alongside the People’s Choice Award of $2,000 plus a Derivan art pack valued at $500.
The prize is proudly supported by partners including Trippas White Group, The Marshall Group, R.M. Williams Outback, Active Networks, The Australian, Guardian and Scarborough Foundation, The Reed Family Foundation, Clarke Murphy Print, Community Bank Lindfield, Ku-ring-gai Council, Kelvin Hall Floral Design, EPM Projects, Derivan, The Art Scene, and Edwina Palmer.
The 2025 Exhibition of Finalists runs through 6 July at Ravenswood School for Girls (Gate 3, 10 Henry Street, Gordon NSW), open Thursday to Sunday, 10am-4pm. Entry is free, and artworks are available for purchase throughout the exhibition period.
A virtual exhibition tour is also available at ravenswoodartprize.com.au for those unable to visit in person.