Untitled work by Jana Bareham

Bareham's untitled work demonstrates her engagement with mokuhanga, the water-based Japanese woodblock printing process that distinguishes contemporary European practice from oil-based Western relief printing. Without the descriptive cue of a title, the print invites viewing on formal grounds — the registration of multiple blocks, the absorption qualities of washi, and the gradient effects achievable through bokashi application during inking. Contemporary mokuhanga artists working in Europe frequently approach the medium through abstraction or pared-back imagery, departing from the figurative traditions of bijin-ga, meisho-e, and kacho-e while preserving the technical vocabulary of baren-burnished impressions on hand-laid paper. The choice to leave a print untitled aligns with a strain of contemporary mokuhanga that emphasizes process and material qualities — the relationship between cut block, pigment viscosity bound with rice paste (nori), and paper fiber — over narrative subject. Bareham's practice, situated within the IMC-affiliated network, reflects this orientation toward the medium as inheritance rather than illustration, treating each print as a record of a specific encounter between hand, tool, and surface.