Nicola Scott

In Nicola Scott, Andrea G. Artz translates a photographic portrait of the named sitter into mokuhanga, the Japanese water-based woodblock technique she has adopted as a counterpart to her photographic and sculptural practice. The print frames the figure in the manner of a head-and-shoulders study drawn from studio photographic convention rather than [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) precedent. Each tonal area derives from a separately carved cherry block, inked with nori-bound water pigments and impressed by hand with a [baren](/glossary/baren) onto dampened [washi](/glossary/washi). [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) — the graduated wiping of pigment across the block before printing — is used to render the fall of light across the face and to soften the boundary between figure and paper. Compared to its photographic source, the printed surface carries the fibrous warmth of kōzo and the slight irregularities of hand pulling. The work belongs to Artz's broader investigation of the human figure across media, treating mokuhanga as a means of registering a specific person's presence rather than as a stylistic citation of historical Japanese printmaking.