Ling Chiu

This mokuhanga print depicts Ling Chiu and belongs to Andrea G. Artz's series of woodblock portraits drawn from photographic sources. Artz separates the underlying digital portrait into a small set of tonal layers, carves each onto its own block in cherry or shina plywood, and prints the blocks in succession onto [washi](/glossary/washi) that has been dampened so the water-based pigments penetrate rather than rest on the surface. The [baren](/glossary/baren) is used to transfer pigment by hand, and kentō registration holds the layered impressions in alignment. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) passages — produced by brushing pigment unevenly across the block before printing — model the face and hair, while a key block contributes the sharper contours that secure the sitter's likeness. The matte, embedded colour surface marks the work as mokuhanga rather than oil-based relief printing. Within Artz's wider practice, which spans photography, collage, and folded paper sculpture, these portraits ground her engagement with the human figure in a centuries-old Japanese printmaking tradition.