This work is from Peta Clancy’s series Punctures. It shows a tightly cropped view of a woman’s lips. To create this work, Clancy produced an earlier print of this image and perforated it with a very fine silver needle. She then re-photographed the work and created a second print with a further layer of perforations. The numerous and intricate punctures serve to create a lace-like pattern or mapping over the surface of the print, highlighting existing lines and markings on the subject’s skin and alluding to future marks that will come with the passing of time.
As with other works in her Punctures series, this work illustrates Clancy’s interest in the material qualities of the photographic object. Her perforations disrupt the smooth surface of the photographic print and her presentation allows the work to be viewed as a three-dimensional object. It is shown in an acrylic box that protrudes from the wall at a 90 degree angle, allowing both sides of the print to be viewed.
(2015)
Chromogenic prints are printed on paper that has at least three emulsion layers containing invisible dyes and silver salts. Each emulsion layer is sensitive to a different primary colour of light (red, green or blue). The development process converts the hidden dyes to visible colour depending on the amount of light it was exposed to. This type of paper is commonly used to print from colour negatives or digital files to produce a full-colour image. It can also be used to print black-and-white images, giving softer grain and less contrast than gelatin silver prints. Commonly known as c-type prints, chromogenic processing was developed in the 1940s and widely used for colour printing, including for domestic snapshots. While recent years have seen this process accompanied by ink-jet and digital printing technologies, chromogenic printing still remains in use to this day.
