Shea Kirk is a Melbourne-based artist working with traditional photographic methods and techniques. This full-bodied black-and-white double portrait is typical of his practice and comes from his ongoing series of stereoscopic portraits titled Vantages. Through this series, Kirk works with dual large-format cameras to simultaneously capture two images from different perspectives. Kirk invites subjects to be photographed in his home studio in front of simple backdrops. Each portrait is exposed onto separate sheets of black-and-white film, simultaneously capturing two images of the sitter from slightly different perspectives. If these works were to be viewed through a stereoscope, they would appear as a single three-dimensional portrait.
Kirk’s process is slow and methodical, allowing for an intimate exchange between photographer and sitter. Through this series, Kirk references historical studio portraiture and old-fashioned modes of production in a contemporary context, drawing on traditional photographic techniques in a way that avoids reducing his subjects to a single vantage point.
2023
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.
