Michael Riley’s composition is hauntingly simple and poetic. ‘Untitled [feather]’ is from his celebrated Cloud series which consists of ten images that each have a key object hovering against the intensity of an Australian blue sky. The work brings together a number of recurring thematic concerns that he interrogated during his career: childhood, Christianity and the experience of Indigenous people in Australia. Riley commented that ‘[t]he feather, almost suspended in the sky, could also be quite a heavy thing. I see the feather, myself, as sort of a messenger, sending messages onto people and community and places.’
(2018)
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.
