Flyway

Printed on mura washi in 2015, 'Flyway' takes migration as its subject — the defined aerial corridors along which bird populations move seasonally across continents. The mura washi substrate, with its fibrous, cloud-like surface variations, is well-suited to evoking atmosphere and aerial space, its irregular texture suggesting sky and weather rather than fixed ground. As a woodcut rather than strictly water-based mokuhanga, the work may employ oil-based or dry printing to achieve the crisper linear qualities appropriate to depicting movement through space. The birds and flowers classification situates the work within kacho-e traditions, though Vollmer's approach is abstract rather than naturalistic, translating the biological reality of migration into form, line, and the distributed texture of the washi ground itself. The flyway concept implies both collective movement and invisible infrastructure — the idea that space is structured by patterns of passage that leave no permanent mark.