Where the land lies #12 (under the same sun) & #172019
Artist statement: Throughout my practice I explore the principle of liminality to address my cultural experience as a first generation Australian. Shown at Gippsland Art Gallery as part of my solo exhibition, this installation was developed in conversation with the Gunaikurnai community, interpreting sites along Gippsland’s Bataluk Cultural Trail and embodying a fieldwork process grounded in recognition, negotiation and respect. Circular apertures are applied to the ‘face’ of framed photographs which, once lit, cast a shadow onto their registering surface. Two identical but differently oriented depictions of the sun harness the fundamental, yet equally integral phenomena comprising photography: light, shadow and the silver grain of analogue film, seeking to challenge the emblematic primacy of the depicted sun. Alongside their accompanying abstracted ‘landscape’ vitrine and base, these works aim to foreground the shadow, conventionally observed as the peripheral ‘other’, while also signifying a provisional form of occupation associated with migrating to unceded lands.
I would like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional lands of the Brayakooloong people of the Gunaikurnai nation as the land upon which Gippsland is now situated, and pay respect to their Elders past and present.
Special thanks to Dr Doris Paton and Cr Carolyn Crossely, Rob Hudson at the Krowathunkooloong Keeping Place and Grattan Mullet of GLaWAC for providing ongoing support and guidance.
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.
