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](/glossary/washi). Areas of continuous tone in the original photograph become tonal fields in the print, often modulated through [bokashi](/glossary/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](/glossary/baren).