Central Queensland man and Rockhampton School of Arts display2020
Artist statement: Shadow of proof is a series of photographic contact and copy prints sourced from public archives, woven together to disrupt and question historical modes of representation and reveal the structures of power and privilege that have shaped contemporary society. The original photographs were taken in central Queensland during the late 19th century and early 20th century, a period of booming pastoral expansion and gold rushes. The series combines images of figures in colonial society, a pastoralist or entrepreneur or colonial modes of display of Aboriginal or Melanesian cultural artefacts, with portraits of marginalised individuals, Aboriginal people or indentured South Sea Islanders.
Artwork source images: courtesy the Central Queensland Collection, Rockhampton Regional Council Libraries and the Capricornia Collection, University of Central Queensland
fiona-macdonald.net
Gelatin silver prints are black-and-white photographic prints that have been created using papers coated with an emulsion of gelatin and light-sensitive silver salts. After the papers are briefly exposed to light (usually through a negative), a chemical developer renders the latent image as reduced silver, which is then fixed and washed. This technique was first introduced in the 1870s and is still used today. Most twentieth-century black-and-white photographs are gelatin silver prints. They are known for being highly detailed and sharply defined prints with a distinguishable smooth, even image surface.
