Nicola Bennett

This print, titled for Nicola Bennett, continues Reed's practice of dedicating individual mokuhanga sheets to named subjects. The procedural demands of the medium shape such dedications: design is resolved into a sequence of carved cherry blocks, each registered to kentō notches; pigments mixed with rice paste and water are brushed onto the block; dampened [washi](/glossary/washi) is laid down and burnished by hand with a [baren](/glossary/baren). The technique produces flat, saturated colour fields and a line quality distinct from the bitten line of intaglio or the inked impression of relief in oil-based traditions. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations, achieved by varying pigment density across the block surface, introduce graduated transitions within otherwise flat passages. Reed's involvement with the international mokuhanga community — including exhibition at the 2021 IMC in Nara — situates such prints within a contemporary global revival of the technique that engages, rather than reproduces, its Edo-period antecedents.