Leah Kharibian

A mokuhanga portrait of Leah Kharibian, made by Andrea G. Artz as part of her series of single-sitter woodblock prints. Working from a photographic original, Artz reduces the image to a limited set of tonal separations, carves each onto its own block, and prints them in sequence onto washi dampened to absorb the water-based pigments characteristic of Japanese woodblock. The baren is used to transfer pigment by hand, and kentō registration marks ensure that successive impressions align. Bokashi gradations replace the photograph's continuous tone, producing soft transitions across the face and hair, while sharper outlines from a key block hold the sitter's structure. The matte, paper-embedded surface that results is distinct from the glossier relief prints of European traditions. Trained as a portrait photographer before completing an MFA at the University of Leeds, Artz uses these prints to extend portraiture across media; alongside her three-dimensional folded paper portraits and installation work, the sheet prints form the planar half of an interdisciplinary practice.