Artist statement: Invasion places an imaginative eye in Australian colonial history and turns around the dominant view, taking alien creatures into iconic London-based cityscapes, with white urban residents as their victims.
The images in this series express the shock that enveloped the Australian continent when European people appeared on Aboriginal shores. Aboriginal people as aliens, sci-fi scaled animals including – featherless birds, super-sized grubs, giant lizards, possums on UFOs, laser-shooting fembots, and clouds of Rainbow Lorikeets – arrive into urban London, the 'mother' country, and wreak havoc. Within the broad narrative are mini-narratives that speak to the past; historical references that tease out and reverse the racist practices imposed on Aboriginals. The drama of such an event is heightened with vintage-inspired B-grade horror movie aesthetic – giving an ironic 'spoofy' edge.
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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.
