IMC 2024 Echizen submission

This print was Kikkawa's submission to the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC), held in Echizen, the region of Fukui Prefecture historically associated with the production of kozo-fibre [washi](/glossary/washi). IMC submissions are typically print-exchange works circulated among participating artists, and the format encourages contributors to demonstrate the technical and material vocabulary of contemporary mokuhanga: hand-printed water-based pigment worked into dampened washi with the [baren](/glossary/baren), often incorporating [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations and registered through [kento](/glossary/kento) marks cut into the block. Submissions to the Echizen edition frequently engaged with the host region's papermaking heritage, with artists choosing locally produced sheets as a substrate. Kikkawa's contribution reflects her position within the contemporary mokuhanga community as both a practitioner trained at the University of the Arts London and as the residency manager at the Karuizawa Mokuhanga School, where she works with artists from across the international mokuhanga network that the IMC serves to convene. The print sits within her ongoing engagement with mokuhanga as a transnational, community-driven medium rather than as a recreation of historical [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) idioms.