flight research #5

Artist Rosemary Laing Australian, born 1959

Date1999

MediumChromogenic print

Dimensions42 3/8 x 94 1/4 in. (107.6 x 239.4 cm)
Frame: 49 1/4 x 101 1/4 x 2 3/8 in. (125.1 x 257.2 x 6 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LinePurchased with funds from Charles Babcock and Dr. and Mrs. Lunsford Long, by exchange

Object number2003.5

On View

Not on view

Label TextRosemary Laing’s exuberant image of a sky-diving bride, suspended in the air in her billowing white dress, depicts a moment frozen in time—the split-second before the parachute opens, or the plane stalls. This image invites the viewer to suspend disbelief. One wonders where the bride’s parachute is, or if she has discovered superhuman powers enabling her to fly unassisted. Or perhaps she has decided to take a final leap in a dramatic, free-fall escape from the altar.

Laing has described this flight research series as “an embodiment of the desire for a better state of existence in the world—unhindered and unfettered by the stymie of necessity and cultural condition.”
[L. Dougherty, 2019]ProvenanceCreated Australia, 1999; collection of the artist; [Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney]; sold to NCMA, 2003.

Published ReferencesHuston Paschal and Linda Johnson Dougherty, Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2003) 51, 140, 142, illus. (color) front cover, 142-43, (b-w) 50.

Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (November/December 2003), illus. (color) 30, detail (color) front cover.

Richard Maschal, "Images of the wonder - and menace - of flight make the imagination soar," Charlotte, NC: The Charlotte Observer (November 9, 2003), discussed and illus. 1H.

Linda Dougherty, "The BIG Picture," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (May/June 2007), mentioned 12.

Lauren H. Ryan, entry for flight research #5, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 586, illus. (color) 587.
Exhibition HistoryBrisbane, Australia, Brisbane City Gallery, "Rosemary Laing: A Survey 1995-2002," January 23-March 23, 2003.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight," November 2, 2003-March 7, 2004, cat. 51, 140, 142, illus. (color) front cover, 142-43, (b-w) 50.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The Big Picture," March 18-September 2, 2007.

Savannah, GA, Telfair Museum of Art's Jepson Center for the Arts, "Fast Forward: Three Decades of Contemporary Art from the North Carolina Museum of Art," January 23-April 27, 2008.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Mirror Image: Women Portraying Women," May 1-November 27, 2011.

Blowing Rock, NC, Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, “Transformation,” March 20–August 21, 2021.
Object Rights Statement

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) makes images of its collection available online to support research and scholarship and to inform and educate the public. Certain works of art, as well as the photographs of those works of art, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or related interests not owned by the NCMA. The responsibility for ascertaining whether any such rights exist and for obtaining all other necessary permissions remains with the applicant. To request images and/or permissions from the NCMA, please complete our online request form.