Michael Cook’s Undiscovered series revisits the colonial history of Australia. Using a bleak grey shoreline as a backdrop, Cook has staged absurd scenes of cultural collision on the beach. Some photographs show an Aboriginal model dressed as a Colonial sea captain, emerging from the sea with a rifle, bike or telescope. Other works in this series show the British flag washed up on the sand or a large sailing ship emerging from the distance. Exotic Australian animals also punctuate each vignette, accentuating the theme of strange encounters that runs through the series. The series is typical of Cook’s practice in that it deals with his own ancestry and re-examines Australian history.
(2014)
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.
