numbers game covid19 map covid spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

Title indicates a print engaging the COVID-19 pandemic through cartographic representation — likely a map of cases, deaths, or transmission patterns. Such data visualization is an unusual subject for mokuhanga but fits within the broader contemporary use of the medium for socially engaged work. The print probably translates statistical density into color intensity, a problem mokuhanga is equipped to address through careful registration of multiple blocks and bokashi gradient passes. Maps depend on precise outlines and area fills, both readily achievable through patient block-cutting and baren-applied printing. The choice of mokuhanga for pandemic-era subject matter reflects a sustained practice — the medium's slow rhythm contrasts with the breaking-news urgency of pandemic data, transforming ephemeral statistics into a printed object meant to last. Within Spitzack's body of work, the print belongs alongside other socially observed subjects (invasive species, urban transit, environmental advocacy) that tie his Seattle-based practice to documentary concerns rather than purely formal or decorative ones.