Thief | Laura Prochowski

Laura Prochowski is a self-taught artist working on Gadigal Land.

Laura began their creative journey in design as an illustrator for textiles. Working with fashion and interiors brands since 2012 Laura illustrated their own collections of prints and sold them through agencies in Australia and Europe through to 2017. Laura is currently the in-house artist with internationally celebrated fashion brand Silk Laundry, having collaborated with them for over six years.

Driven to explore new ways to diversify their creative practice, Laura began painting abstract work using oils in 2021. The artistic possibilities and freedom opened up by abstraction inspire Laura, leading them to further develop their unique voice in this space.

Laura’s practice dances between landscapes and the abstract. With a focus on emotional expression over realistic form, their works explore gender, fluidity, movement and the interconnectedness of nature.

Laura lives and works in Sydney, Australia.

Tell us the story of this work. What inspired it? What does it mean to you?

“When I painted Thief, I was sitting with the uneasy tension between trust and control—especially in the context of who gets to make decisions about our landscapes, and how those decisions are made. The work came out of a moment of questioning: how much agency do we, as individuals or communities, really have when it comes to the stewardship of land? And how often is that agency quietly displaced or undermined?” 

“The title, Thief, doesn’t point to an act of taking, but rather to a presence—something just out of frame that shifts the dynamic, alters the course, redirects the flow.”

“My work isn’t offering answers. It’s more of a reckoning, a quiet insistence to keep looking harder at the influences that shape our landscapes.”

Tell us about how you created your work.

“Thief is made up of five layer of oils. It began as a transparent green base and was built from multiple intuitive painting sessions over many months. In the layering and movement of the paint, I was trying to hold the friction of imbalance. I used broad, gestural strokes in some areas that sit beside tighter, more controlled marks, almost like they are in competition. There are areas that feel fractured or unstable, but they’re held within a larger field of cohesion. The red markings were painted wet on wet as the final layer, their inclusion was to inbed a layer of urgency and immediacy to the work.”

What particular challenges came from working on a piece of this size?

“Working on a piece this size is demanding. The scale forced me to think with my whole body when placing down the marks. It wasn’t just about moving a brush across canvas anymore; it became a physical experience. There’s a different type of negotiation with the canvas that happens with a work this large, the dialogue lasts longer and it alters how you make decisions. I had to keep stepping back to reorient myself, to make sure the energy moved through the painting in a way that felt intentional but still had that sense of immediacy I was after.”

What do you hope people feel when they see your work?

“I hope people come to my work with openness and curiosity. What matters to me is that it invites a pause, a moment of sensing before interpreting. If someone stands in front of the painting and feels something shift, even slightly, that’s enough.”

“This piece—and much of what I do—is rooted in ambiguity. I want viewers to sit with their own reactions, to notice what rises to the surface, they are part of the ongoing life of the work. Ideally, they’ll feel the tension I was working through: questions around power, trust, and who gets to decide what happens to the spaces we all share but I don’t expect everyone to land in the same place. That’s part of the point.”

“Ultimately, I hope the work creates space—both literally and emotionally—for people to reflect on the systems they’re part of, and maybe even feel more attuned to the forces shaping their world, whether visible or hidden.”

Laura Prochowski, 2025

Read more here.

Shipping on this work is $80 to anywhere in Australia. Please contact the gallery for international shipping quotes.