Eletha sailed to Ériu

The title draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the medieval Book of Invasions: Elatha was a Fomorian sea-king whose son Bres later became, briefly, king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Ériu is the personification and old name of Ireland. The print's medium combination — aquatint for tonal field, etched line for incident, and palladium rather than gold leaf — gives a cooler, silvery register suited to a sea-crossing subject; palladium does not tarnish and holds a steady, mid-toned reflectivity that reads as water light rather than sun. Akino, who emigrated from Kyoto to the Cooley Peninsula by Carlingford Lough — itself a coastline tied to the medieval Irish literary cycles — has returned several times to mythological Irish material as a counterpoint to her topographic work. The 2023 print sits within that thread, using metal leaf and aquatint together to evoke a luminous water surface across which the named arrival takes place. The choice of palladium over gold places the image inside a cooler, more elemental tonal world.