Artist statement: Held in the National Archives of Australia are approximately 350,000 immigration cards, containing basic information about the refugees and migrants who came to Australia after the Second World War.
They are called the Bonegilla cards. Stapled to each card is a passport sized photograph. These images have a palpable sense of melancholy and as I looked through them, I was particularly affected by the pictures of the children. Their faces reflecting fear, confusion and a sense of stoicism.
My family was part of the mass migration out of Europe, my Polish father and German mother wanted to move as far away from Europe as possible. My siblings and I have more or less assimilated but a part of me still feels like I belong somewhere else.
www.helgaleunig.com
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.
