Billie ANGELONE
Mentone Girls' Grammar School
VCE Studio Arts 3&4
Artist statement: Plastic is an artificial material I used symbolically to elucidate the barrier between people and their surroundings in Plasticorld, posing as protection from danger while involuntarily hindering the experience of sensation. This dramatic black-and-white photograph expresses the intensity of emotions humans experience in a world of confining environmental influences. I became fascinated by the varying purposes containers have, from protection and safety, like the sheath the model wears, to captivity displayed in the interminable world around her.
The irony of juxtaposing multiple uses of the one material poses the question of whether something is dangerous itself, or whether the way individuals and society manipulate its use poses a threat. This image prompts considerations for the environment, particularly plastic wastage in our world of consumerism, while I have also explored the interrelationship between the internal and external worlds individuals experience.
Also known as Giclee prints or bubble-jet prints, pigment ink-jet prints are generated by computer printers from digital or scanned files using dye-based or pigment-based inks. A series of nozzles spray tiny droplets of ink onto the paper surface in a precise pattern that corresponds to the digital image file. In dye-based prints the ink soaks into the paper, whereas in pigment-based prints the ink rests and dries on top of the paper surface.
Whilst the term is broad, pigment ink-jet prints have come to be associated with prints produced on fine art papers. They are the most versatile and archival method of printing available to photographers today. A wide variety of material on which an image can be printed with such inks are available, including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolour paper, cotton canvas or pre-coated canvas.
