IMC 2024 Echizen submission

Submitted to the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference held in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, this print was produced for an exhibition tied to one of Japan's three principal washi-producing regions. IMC submissions are typically printed on Echizen kozo washi, a paper whose long fibers and even surface accept multiple registered impressions and tolerate the repeated dampening required by the water-based mokuhanga process. Without published documentation of the imagery, the work can be situated by its production context rather than its subject: contemporary mokuhanga submitted to IMC exhibitions tends toward abstract or semi-abstract compositions that foreground the medium's distinctive surface qualities — the soft tonal gradations achievable through bokashi, the matte absorption of pigment into the paper, and the subtle embossing left by baren pressure. As co-author of the MI-LAB Mokuhanga Handbook and a 2017 Keiko Kadota Print Award recipient, Hamada works within the educational lineage of the Nagasawa Art Park and MI-LAB programs, and her IMC contributions sit at the intersection of contemporary practice and the conference's mission of preserving and advancing water-based woodblock printing as a living international art form.