Zoltan Marfy

A portrait of the named sitter, Zoltan Marfy, executed in mokuhanga — the Japanese water-based woodblock technique that Artz has adopted as a translation medium for her photographic practice. The print likely begins from a studio portrait photograph that is then separated into tonal layers, with each block carved to register a distinct pass of pigment onto dampened [washi](/glossary/washi). Artz's photographic training is visible in the close attention to the contours of the face and the modelling of light across skin, qualities normally rendered through silver halide or pixel but here reconstructed by hand-pulled impressions from the [baren](/glossary/baren). Subtle [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations replace the continuous tonal range of a photograph, giving the sitter's features a quieter, more contemplative weight than a straight print would carry. The work belongs to Artz's ongoing investigation of the portrait as a site of encounter, and to her wider project of moving the human figure between digital capture, analogue matrix, and tactile paper surface.