Don't go kissing at the garden gate 21998
Through her practice, Brenda L Croft draws on family and public archives. In doing so, she focusses on the representation and recontextualisation of images in order to explore her family’s history, as well as cultural difference in Australia. This work forms part of Croft’s series Colour b(l)ind, which was created as a tribute to the artist’s father in the years following his death. A sub-series of In my father’s house, this body of work is made up of richly-coloured, layered digital collages that mix text with images from Croft’s family archive. By juxtaposing and layering different elements in her work, Croft is able to honour family members who are no longer alive, in this case her parents, while also exploring the complex memories and experiences of First Nations people in Australia, including her father who was removed from his family at a young age and placed in institutional care, not meeting his mother again for over four decades.
(2021)
A silver dye bleach print is a subtractive positive-to-positive colour photographic process used for the reproduction of colour film transparencies on photographic paper. The prints are made using a triacetate, polyester or resin coated paper support coated with layers of azo (synthetic) dyes mixed with light sensitive silver gelatine emulsion, which are selectively bleached out during the development process. Silver dye bleach prints are characterised by their image clarity, colour saturation and stability. The most commercially successful silver dye bleach product was Ilfochrome (which was also commonly known as Cibachrome).
