Artist statement: This series was commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria for my recent survey exhibition Polyverse. The photograph further develops themes that I have explored in previous series into a more abstract visual language.
The human figure is less identifiable in MORPH, evoking images of myth, nightmare and hallucination. Despite the visible abstraction of human form, the central framing and portrait format of the image is classical in composition and very much informed by my background as a portrait photographer. The body in these images is on the precipice of dissolving completely into an amorphous state – both human and inhuman.
The sitter in the MORPH series is London-based academic Sibylla Phipps. After modelling for me for seven months Sibylla subsequently wrote the essay A voice from inside the gimp suit for the accompanying book to the series, in which she describes how ‘... the sensory deprivation was stifling, disorienting, claustrophobic and panic-inducing. But I slowly became accustomed to my new home. As I did I would fall into what I would call phantasy states.’ I think that knowing this internal experience of modelling for the photographs adds another layer to the reading of the subject in the photograph.
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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.
