Smoke

The title points toward an atmospheric, dispersed image — a register for which mokuhanga's wet-on-wet bokashi offers particular resources. Plant-based pigment laid into damp washi by the baren can produce gauzy, edge-dissolving passages that resolve toward clarity rather than line, approximating the tonal behavior of dispersed matter. Over this base Jung layers silkscreened and intaglio marks whose graphic specificity contrasts with the soft mokuhanga field. Her plant-based dyes give the underlying color a depth that shifts in different light, an effect synthetic inks do not match. Smoke belongs to the cross-medium body of work that has over the past decade drawn Jung's practice toward mokuhanga and natural pigment while preserving her engagement with the Western print tradition. Her recent prints have been recognized at Japanese international print biennials, where her active engagement with mokuhanga from a teaching position in a U.S. university printmaking program is shared by a small group of American practitioners.