Print, Body, and Memory: Haptic Engagement with Large-Scale Prints

Abstract

When I started my Master of Fine Arts degree in 2020, I was interested in how the way memory is perceived and experienced can be expressed through printmaking, both in method and in content. Two months into my studies, South Africa entered a hard lockdown, and universities were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I lost access to my studio and had to pivot from my usual practice – which required the use of presses, darkrooms, and solvents – to one that could easily be undertaken in a small apartment. I shifted to creating detailed linocuts, which eventually culminated in the production of several large woodcuts in 2021. The production and printing of woodcuts of that size required an unexpected degree of physical engagement. Due to the size of the blocks, I was unable to visually resolve the image I was working on. Touch and frottage became the only way for me to ‘see’ the image I was working on. The haptic engagement with the woodblocks, both in terms of production and perception, inspired the creation of a large-scale installation consisting of 150 graphite rubbings taken from the block, which were exhibited together with the prints and the woodblocks. My heightened awareness of my physical body during the production of the blocks, the subsequent labour of hand printing, and the creation of the frottage installation led me to reconsider my theoretical approach to memory and incorporate its material and physiological aspects into my work.