Proposal Abstract

In this talk, I will examine the relationship between my printmaking and site-specific practice. ‘Land Print projects’ investigate the location of identity and ecological integrity of a glacial ‘Small lake’, National park Pelister, Macedonia (altitude 2.180 m). Spanning over two decades, the project is conceived as continual return to the same distant lake with ephemeral site-specific interventions, including found objects, printmaking and natural materials, sourced from different cultural and historic sites in Australia and Macedonia. The neologism land print is coined by the curator of the projects Dr Suzana Milevska.

The first Land Print Project ‘Small Lake’ (1994) explores the idea of the topography of sublime (the Lake), through the use of mirrors, circular zinc plates, decorative glass objects and blue pigment. The zinc plates are used for making prints after the intervention made at the lake, using natural materials found on the site itself (stones, herbs, branches, water, insects).

‘I and the eye’ (1996) considers the philosophical consequences of the metaphorical and rational concepts of nature, intervening with magnifying glass, desert sand, champagne glass and lithography printed on silk. This time the lake is under snow and the edge between the water and the land is invisible.

The latest project ‘Salt’ (2018) questions the repetition of the moment of awe and magnitude, characteristic of the Kantian account of the sublime. The project consists of encircling the lake with a line of salt. Known for its immunity towards a decay, the use of salt reflects the need for conservation and wish to protect the lake from negative societal changes. The leftover salt is later used in the lithographic process.

This illustrated paper will outline the history and conceptual framework of the ‘Land Print projects’, expanding the limits of printing practices and connecting two cultures at a geographically distant location.