Forest Where Blue Fish Live

Forest Where Blue Fish Live joins two of Asahi's recurring motifs — the wooded interior and the fish — into a single hybrid environment characteristic of her invented mythology. The conceit of fish inhabiting a forest rather than water is consistent with the loosened natural logic of her wider output, where animals and plants belong to no observable taxonomy. Technically, the print combines etched line for the structural elements of trees and fish forms with aquatint for the layered tonal washes that suggest both foliage and depth. The blue keying implies use of color aquatint, requiring an additional plate or selective inking on a single plate. Within her catalogue this kind of compound subject — forest-fish, sea-weaver, dragon-bride — represents the central operating logic of her practice: figures and creatures combined across categories to form a coherent but entirely fictional world that draws on the visual repertoire of Japanese folklore without referencing any specific story.