Of every worlds (a land of other things) [element 2]
2019
Drawing on his Aboriginal and European ancestry, Danie Mellor makes works in a variety of media using blue and white colouring to depict his traditional country in the Atherton Tablelands of far north Queensland. For some years, his colour choice has run through his practice to symbolise a European way of seeing 'exotic' places, initially inspired by the English ceramic company Spode.
This work is made up of two chromogenic prints created using infrared photography and printed on metallic paper. The imagery on the small round piece shows a view of the sky, looked up at through tree tops in the rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands. The larger piece is cut to reflect the shape of a jawun or bicornual (twocornered) basket. These baskets are unique to Aboriginal rainforest culture in northern Queensland. The imagery in this piece includes a skull, which references the way jawun baskets were sometimes used to hold remains of significant members of a community and hung from tree limbs for lengthy periods of mourning as a mark of respect. Reflecting Mellor's interest in cultural knowledge, colonial and art histories, as well as generating spiritual connections to the landscape and the natural environment, this work crosses cultures and artistic disciplines in order to bridge the gaps between European and Indigenous cultural histories, as well as photographic and sculptural practices.
(2023)
Chromogenic prints are printed on paper that has at least three emulsion layers containing invisible dyes and silver salts. Each emulsion layer is sensitive to a different primary colour of light (red, green or blue). The development process converts the hidden dyes to visible colour depending on the amount of light it was exposed to. This type of paper is commonly used to print from colour negatives or digital files to produce a full-colour image. It can also be used to print black-and-white images, giving softer grain and less contrast than gelatin silver prints. Commonly known as c-type prints, chromogenic processing was developed in the 1940s and widely used for colour printing, including for domestic snapshots. While recent years have seen this process accompanied by ink-jet and digital printing technologies, chromogenic printing still remains in use to this day.
