WELCOME TO ISSUE FOUR

The skies have suddenly turned crystal blue in London, with a blaze of orange leaves. Here’s wishing that you are safe and well in your part of the world. It is a pleasure to introduce Issue Four to you. This issue comprises of scholarship on themes of shadows and truth, language, colonialization, and new ways of making.

Kiko del Rosario’s deepsurvey of woodcut’s rise in popularity in the Philippines, in particular charting the print works of Rodolfo Paras-Perez, is interwoven with the history of the kiss as an agent of modernization in the post-war period. It is as much a story of colonial forces as it is of global influences. A similar story of colonialization is the backdrop for Gini Wade’s interview with Veronica Calarco on how to revive minority languages such as Welsh and Gunnai/Kŭrnai through printed narratives. The reappearance of drawings on lithographic stones after deletion is paralleled with traces of languages that recur and endure, despite their enforced removal.

Shadows and their fragility talk of impermanence and the passing of time. Shadows themselves form the focus of three of the texts in this issue. Aiu Kitayama Yamazaki ponders on the beauty that resides in dark spaces, taking Jun’ichiro Tanizaki’s iconic text ‘In Praise of Shadows’ as a starting point to examine work of three printmakers who are involved in the depiction of light and darkness.

Shadows too fall on the gallery floor in Sue Baker Kenton’s immersive installation, Forward Broadcast. Rebecca Partridge interviews Sue Baker Kenton on how she created these shadowy portraits, which contrast with a mass of etched faces that populate the opposite wall of the gallery, and how they physically bridge generations.

Deborah Root contemplates a trio of Marlene MacCallum’s artist’s books which are united by a shadowy theme. Shadows blur the boundaries between domestic and outside space, and provide a counterpoint to the tempo of revealing and progressing through MacCallum’s loose, dream-like narratives. Shadows, Root hints, contain the truth.

In terms of value judgements, darkness and light are expertly manipulated by Goya, and Truth is personified as a radiant woman in several of his etchings from the magnificent series of prints entitled the Disasters of War. Brian D. Cohen sets out his quest to find the true ending to the suite of prints, making a strong argument for the series ending on a downer.

However, we end the issue looking onwards and upwards, despite the pandemic. Victoria Browne’s research project highlights the tension between making, machine control, and motherhood against the stop-start nature of life in Covid-times. Her project combines traditional observation and CNC milling to create beautiful multi-block tessellations of evergreen foliage that grows between properties in Norway.

Thanks to all the reviewers who patiently gave of their time, and of course, all the authors and artists. Wishing you all remain healthy, and that we meet soon.

Wuon-Gean Ho

London, 26 Nov 2021

REVIEWERS // ISSUE FOUR 

Bess Frimodig

Camilla Murgia

Deborah Cornell

Irena Keckes

Johanna Love

Monika Lukowska

Niamh Fahy

Paul Coldwell

Paul Uhlmann

Ruth Pelzer-Montada

Sofie Boons

Soraya Vasconcelos

Tracy Templeton

Tricia Treacy

Wuon-Gean Ho