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About the Artist

Jill Lacina is a Sydney-based photographer specialising in historical and fine art printing.  She has been passionate about photography for nearly 20 years, shooting mostly black and white images and developing her printing skills. Alternative photographic processes captured her imagination 7 years ago and she's been experimenting with it ever since. 

Jill enjoys the whole process of creating the print from being the 'mad scientist', measuring and mixing the chemicals to choosing the perfect paper and coating it with her well-loved Hake brushes. These are acts of patience and magic in her eyes. She's one of those photographers who prefers rough brush-stroked edges because it highlights the handmade quality of the print. Scannning the sky and understanding the strength of the sun, depending on the seasons, ties her to those early times when technology was not so accessible. 

All the images in this exhibition are actually photogenic drawings, or photograms. This means they were made without a camera at all. The images were made by placing objects on top of a piece of photographic (or in this case) handcoated paper and exposing it to the sun. The image you see is a shadow of the object on the paper. 

The UV light-sensitive solutions were handpainted onto watercolour paper to provide an emulsion for the images. Once the paper was dry, an object was placed on top (usually under the glass) and placed in the sun to expose.  Even using the same object twice, a different shape or shadow can be created. Unique brush strokes and the unpredicatble nature of the sun exposure ensure that no two photographs are ever the same. 

Jill uses the Vandyke, Cyanotype and Blue Vandyke printing processes which are all present in this exhibition.