Hanna Veiler

A mokuhanga portrait drawn from a photographic source, Hanna Veiler centers on a single sitter rendered through the layered impressions characteristic of Japanese water-based woodblock printing. Translating a digital photograph into mokuhanga requires Artz to separate the source image into discrete color blocks, each carved by hand and printed in registration onto washi. Areas of continuous tone in the original photograph become tonal fields in the print, often modulated through bokashi gradients applied with a damp brush before each impression. The resulting surface holds the soft absorbency of the paper rather than the smooth gloss of a photographic print. Within Artz's practice, single-subject portraits like this one sit alongside her installation work with folded paper figures: both undertakings translate the flat photographic image into something handled, layered, and physical. The print reflects her training as a portrait photographer redirected through the slower vocabulary of cut block, brush, and baren.