Artist statement: This is an enlargement of a film photograph created by exposure to flash without a camera at night outdoors in the Victorian Mallee. It records the struggle and flutter of live small cabbage white Pieris rapae butterflies sodden by a sudden downpour of rain. The image starkly reveals a moment in the umwelt or life-world of creatures towards which we are habitually indifferent. The work is part of Gathering shadows, a project in which the triple metaphors of physical touch, cast shadows and invertebrate abjection enunciate ecological tragedy. To portray ecology this way is to not only foreground the emerging human tragedy of environmental crisis but the inescapable pathos of all life, everywhere.
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.
