Good Badlands

Good Badlands depicts the eroded geological formations of the Dakota Badlands, a subject Shimizu approaches through the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition of place portraiture transposed onto American terrain. The print likely registers the stratified buttes and pinnacles in horizontal bands of color, exploiting [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradient inking to render the subtle transitions between sedimentary layers — pale ochres, dusty roses, and shadowed greys that shift with the angle of light. The wordplay in the title suggests Shimizu's characteristic warmth toward landscapes others might describe as desolate. Working in the lineage of Tomikichiro Tokuriki, who emphasized direct observation and the structural honesty of the woodblock, Shimizu translates the geological time of the Badlands into the patient layering of [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) multi-block printing on [washi](/glossary/washi). The piece belongs to her ongoing project of documenting the American continent through a Japanese technical vocabulary, treating prairie geology with the same compositional seriousness traditionally reserved for Mount Fuji or the Inland Sea.