Mary-Louise Browne graduated with First Class Honours from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1982. She has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand and has also developed several public art commissions.

Words are a constant feature of Browne’s work and she explores the metaphoric, material and visual qualities of language in a range of media. The works challenge conventional readings and demonstrate how apparently simple words or maxims can have multiple layers of meaning. Love lock is from the series Full Body 2003-4 in which Browne described body parts. In these works Browne conflates the tactile materiality of leather with the connotations of the words depicted. A love lock is a flowing lock of hair that is dressed apart from the rest of the hair.

Browne has several major public art works in Wellington. In 1996 she unveiled her monumental staircase Body to Soul 1996, in the Wellington Botanical Garden’s, which also exhibits her concern with language. Seven Steps to Heaven, 2000 is another stone transmutation work set in Civic Square. Browne was formerly Exhibitions Manager at the Dowse Art Museum and Public Programmes Manager at City Gallery Wellington.