IMC 2024 Echizen submission

This 2024 work was produced for the International Mokuhanga Conference, an event that gathers practitioners of Japanese water-based woodblock printing from across the globe. The Echizen designation refers to the [washi](/glossary/washi) from Fukui Prefecture used as the printing substrate — a long-fibered [kozo](/glossary/kozo) paper prized for its strength under repeated [baren](/glossary/baren) passes and its capacity to absorb successive layers of pigment without buckling. Submission prints for IMC exhibitions are typically produced in a constrained format that allows for portfolio assembly and international circulation, encouraging artists to demonstrate technical range within a small surface. Danhieux's contribution sits within the contemporary American mokuhanga current, where practitioners apply the traditional toolkit — sharpened to-knives, multiple registered blocks, nori-mixed water-based pigment — to imagery drawn from outside the historical Japanese repertoire. The Echizen paper amplifies the soft tonal gradations and translucent color layering that distinguish mokuhanga from Western oil-based relief printing, qualities central to the medium's appeal for artists working internationally.