Coniglio, Brunswick, Australia2013
Artist statement: This photograph is part of a visual autobiography I began in 1987 and resumed in 2013, shot on 35mm black-and-white film and 120mm colour film using a Diana plastic camera. The series explores my early childhood – until the year I turned five, beginning in post-war Britain, and moving to Italy where my father was posted by the RAF. In preparation I researched historical accounts of the period and recent theories about memory, which led me to understand that many of our recollections are as much imagination and longing as experience. ‘Coniglio, Brunswick, Australia’ addresses my childhood perceptions of the warmth and food of post-war Italy, despite the reality of extreme poverty and shortages, and contrasts with the spare conditions of post-war England.
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.
