Goldfish

Goldfish (kingyo) is a recurrent motif in Japanese visual culture, associated with summer festivals, ceramic bowls, and the cool refraction of water. Brayer's treatment likely departs from the descriptive kacho-e tradition of Hiroshige and Hokusai, in which goldfish appear as discrete subjects against patterned grounds. Instead, the print probably renders the fish as moving color suspended in fluid — orange or vermillion pigment dispersed across blue or pale bokashi fields, registration shifts allowing forms to blur as they would underwater. Working in mokuhanga from her Kyoto studio, Brayer brings her abstract sensibility to a subject deeply embedded in Japanese seasonal iconography, treating the goldfish less as a depicted creature than as a vehicle for studying motion and translucency. The use of multiple woodblocks on absorbent kozo washi allows pigment to bleed and pool in ways that mimic the visual experience of looking into water — a continuation of her broader investigation of liquid, light, and atmosphere.