Q: What were some of the foundation ideas for this exhibition project?

A: Inter-print-ations presents a collective showcase of print honours graduates pushing print media beyond its borders. Our work examines the position of printmaking within a contemporary arts context, investigating how traditional art practices can be expanded to realise complex conceptual ideas. 

Sarsha Demirci, Rubyanna Edwards, Jana Papantoniou, Kat Rae, Drey Willows and Lala Zarei all emerged from their training in printmaking curious to disrupt and extend their foundational print grounding which was rooted in order and tradition. This unlikely group of printmakers have been influenced not just by traditional printmakers and print technique but by mediums such as painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, installation and digital technologies.

Q: How did the artwork selection take place?

A: While the individual underpinnings of each artist’s work may differ, the link between them is the continued motivation to expand a traditional form of art making. Each artist brings their grounding in printmaking with them, but the selected artworks represent how their different circumstances, abilities and ideas have extended their print imbued work in divergent and interesting ways.

Inter-print-ations also questions printmaking outside the printmaking studio. This work shows what happens when print artists no longer have access to institutions, or formal printmaking spaces, or when there is a resource or economic strain. 

Q: How does the exhibition manifest – what do visitors experience?

A: Inter-print-ations stages a journey of thought-provoking encounters. Throughout the space, viewers are invited to explore print through an updated experimental lens. 

We aim to demonstrate how certain printmaking methodologies and materials can be expanded to realise concepts of identity, grief, trauma or disability. We challenge print where it is synonymous with paper alone, as well as the preconceived notion that print can only exist on a small two-dimensional scale. As Mike Parr said, we do not wish to ‘succumb to [the] specialisation’ of the medium.

Q: What are some of the key works and what subject matter do they deal with?

A: This showcase pushes the scope of layering, mixing, erasing, and colouring to produce a diversified range of two and three-dimensional works across sculpture, video performance and paper. Together these works contribute to a certain revolutionised perspective in printmaking. Poignant examples are:

Jana Papantoniou, Remnants, 2024, collage of monotypes on plywood.  Papantoniou’s Remnants is a collage of monotypes on plywood, which explores re-invigorating the archive and the environmental concerns of working with paper and waste. 

Kat Rae, Water Fall, 2023. Rae’s immersive installation incorporates readymades and screenprinting to talk about grief and the destruction of the military industrial complex. 

Rubyanna Edwards, Phantasmagorical, 2024. Imprinted within illuminated layers of the screen, Phantasmagorical offers a radical disruption to the conventional fixed print formula and hierarchy of the paper based medium. This work invites the audience to consider the ways in which an expressive, print informed technique may be translated into digital space. 

Sarsha Demirci, Mutation, 2024. Demirci weaves the narratives of her Kurdish identity through her collaged etching Mutation, bringing awareness to the effects of genocide and erasure occuring in Kurdistan. Inspired by cultural rugs and weavings, she creates a new mode of working using segmented misprints –  reimagining ancient motifs to create contemporary cultural artifacts.

Drey Willows, Never Read the Comments, 2022. Willows explores the paradox between exposure and anonymity in reference to media representations of violence. Never Read the Comments elevates ‘street art’ to the gallery setting, inviting the audience to question what is private versus public.    

Lala Zarei, To the Sky with Hopes and Dreams, 2023. Zarei employs diverse techniques such as printmaking, collage, pottery, and ceramics to explore personal experiences and broader societal themes. Her work addresses the complexities faced by migrants, fostering understanding and unity through storytelling and self-reflection.

Q: What is it about the printmaking experience that you most appreciate?

A: We love the sense of community between printmakers, their enthusiasm to share and expand amongst each other. Printmakers have an enviably close and politically engaged community; but have also been historically isolated within this community. That is to say, printmakers often only exhibit in printmaking spaces and collaborate with other printmakers. We want to stage this exhibition as a way of objecting to or disrupting that pathway, to fight against a certain current that persists for artist’s working with or around print media. We don’t necessarily think printmaking needs to remain within these communities or follow the exactitude of the process. Ultimately, we hope to develop a more conceptual language around printmaking and break certain habitual traditions associated with the medium. 

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Inter-print-ations is at Rubicon Ari, Level 1/309 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne 5-22 June. Celebrate with us on opening night Friday 7 June 6-8 pm. Opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 12-5 pm. Access to the gallery is via O’Connell Street above Tongue & Groove. Please note that unfortunately there is no disability access to the site.

Artist Talk: Thursday 6 June, midday-1 pm

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