Ode to Water (ed. 31/50)

Created in 1978 as edition 31 of 50, Ode to Water broadens Iwami's aquatic subject matter from the specific (the sea, rivers) to the elemental substance itself. Water in all its forms, flowing, pooling, falling, evaporating, freezing, offered Iwami an inexhaustible visual vocabulary. The print's title treats water with the same reverence as the Ode to the Sea series, positioning the fluid element as worthy of lyrical celebration. Iwami's woodblock technique, in which she carved, inked, and printed each block herself, gave her direct physical contact with the materials at every stage. The act of applying water-based pigment to a wooden block and pressing damp paper against it makes the printmaker intimately aware of water as a working material, not merely a depicted subject. This awareness of water-as-medium infuses Iwami's water-as-subject prints with a self-referential depth.