The Black dog and Its Shades

The Black dog and Its Shades takes as its subject a black dog accompanied by its shadows or doubled forms, a motif that allows the print to address both a recognisable animal and a more ambiguous psychological register — the phrase "black dog" is a long-standing English-language metaphor for depression. Mokuhanga is well suited to the high-contrast handling such an image requires: a dense black keyblock impression on [washi](/glossary/washi) can carry the silhouette of the animal, while subsequent blocks lay in greys, deeper blacks, or coloured grounds for the surrounding shades. Water-based pigments give these dark fields a matte, absorbed quality distinct from the surface gloss of oil-based inks. Ho Ching Wong, working from Hong Kong, exhibited at the 2021 International Mokuhanga Conference juried show in Nara, and the print reflects the contemporary international mokuhanga community's interest in symbolic and inwardly directed imagery, distinct from the narrative and topographical subjects of classical [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e).