Divide

Divide presents a bisected composition in which a central axis or horizon-line partitions the sheet into two contrasting territories, each assembled from layered mokuhanga, silkscreen, and intaglio passes. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients applied through controlled [baren](/glossary/baren) pressure produce graduated tonal transitions on one or both sides, while the intaglio register introduces incised mark or plate tone that crosses the dividing element. Plant-based pigments — indigo deep-blue against madder warm, or walnut against [sumi](/glossary/sumi) — supply the chromatic differentiation between zones. The compositional gesture echoes Japanese hanging-scroll conventions in which a strong vertical or horizontal axis organizes pictorial space, but here the device is abstracted and re-enlisted as a structural rather than depictive choice. Divide belongs to Jung's body of recent mokuhanga work, in which traditional Japanese water-based woodblock procedure meets the layered tactility of Western intaglio and silkscreen processes, an idiom the artist has developed alongside her teaching of all five media at the University of Iowa.