Bronwynne Cornish

This portrait of Bronwynne Cornish, a New Zealand ceramicist associated with figurative sculpture, belongs to a series in which Reed depicts fellow practitioners from the country's contemporary art scene. Working in mokuhanga, the traditional Japanese water-based woodblock technique, Reed translates a likeness through hand-rubbed impressions on washi—a markedly different tonal register from photography or painting, in which line work and broad areas of value must be negotiated through separately carved blocks. The choice of mokuhanga for portraiture is itself a deviation from convention; the medium has historically been associated with bijin-ga, yakusha-e, and meisho-e rather than depictions of contemporary art-world figures. Reed's participation in the 2021 International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, themed around sumi black ink, situates his portrait practice within an international community exploring the medium's contemporary range. Bokashi gradations and the absorbent quality of washi give the black-ink portrait its depth without recourse to opaque modeling.