Laiwan was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, of Chinese origin. She emigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia.
She started the OR Gallery in Vancouver in 1983 and has since initiated various curatorial projects, such as the Zimbabwe Women in Contemporary Culture Trust in Harare in 1991. For the past ten years, Laiwan has also been involved in community-based volunteer activism.

Education: 1999 MFA, Interdisciplinary Studies, School for Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.
1983 Diploma, Interdisciplinary Studies, Emily Carr College of Art and Design, British Columbia.

Film/Video Festivals: Apr. 2000 Uncommon Senses: An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Senses in Art & Culture, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec.
Sept. 1999 Art Video sous les Etoiles, Galerie Verticale, Laval, Québec.
Video entry: 'Remotely In Touch'
Oct. 1998 3rd Annual Split Festival of New Film, Split, Croatia, Eastern Europe.
Aug. 1998 Paysage Réinventé, Champ Libre, PQ, Canada.
Aug. 1998 Out On Screen Queer Film Festival, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Solo Exhibitions: 2000 Quartet for the year 4698 or 5760 : Improvisation for four film projectors, film installation/music performance collaboration with Lori Freedman, Morris & Helen Belkin Gallery, UBC, Vancouver (June)
- the Art Gallery of Newfoundland & Labrador for the Sound Symposium 2000 Festival, St. John's (July). www.belkin-gallery.ubc.ca/laiwan
- Untitled, postcard project distributed in Vancouver & Burnaby, the Burnaby Art Gallery, Asian Heritage Month (May)
1999- apture : rupture, collaboration installation by Sam Shem and writing by Laiwan, Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver (Dec.)
- Machinate: a projection in two movements, film/video/new media installation
- Video In, Vancouver, British Columbia. (April/May) & Gallery 101, Ottawa, Ontario. (Sept/Oct.)
1996-7 small, medium & not large: books & collages 1982 to present, Galerie Articule, Montréal (catalogue) & Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Group exhibitions: 2000 Engaging the Virtual, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia. (catalogue)
1999 Digital Identity: Transforming Communities, Reinventing Ourselves, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, British Columbia.
1998 Built to Code: Kati Campbell, Laiwan & Ruth Scheuing, Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.
- UBC Photographic Acquisition Show, Morris & Helen Belkin Gallery, UBC, Vancouver, British Columbia.
1997 (be)longing Galerie Optica, Montréal, Québec. (publication)

Collections: Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia Steve Bridger, Private Collection, Vancouver, British Columbia.

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