Fragments (18)

Fragments (18) is a carved wood and mixed-media work from 2025, paired conceptually with Fragments (17) in treating the woodblock as a finished object. In Desforges's mokuhanga practice the carved block is a tool: gouged with chisels in the manner taught at workshops in Tokyo and Kyoto, then inked with water-based pigments and pulled by [baren](/glossary/baren) onto [washi](/glossary/washi). In Fragments (18) the block is held back from the press and reframed as the work, with mixed-media additions — possibly ink, gouache, paper inlay, or photo-derived imagery from her photo-etching and photo-lithography practice — sitting on or within the carved surface. This shifts the visual logic away from the reproducible print and toward the singular object. The series reflects Desforges's broader interest in the porosity between her disciplines: woodcut, mokulito, etching, and photo-processes converging on a hybrid surface. It also extends a position visible in her teaching at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, where she encourages cross-process working rather than discipline-bound editions.