Carol Wilhide Justin graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2017 with an MA in Print. She was awarded a residency to study Japanese woodcut in Japan from Japanese sensei.

She now makes Japanese woodcut prints exclusively using her own digital photographs and drawings taken from the natural world. The camera’s ‘decisive moment’ and the woodcut’s lengthy interpretation of the same image allow for the subject be crystallised in an emotional and atmospheric way.

Japanese Woodcut or mokuhanga is cut on shina  plywood and handprinted using a bamboo sheathed baren. The pigment used is water colour which is rubbed onto the surface of the woodblock using specialist Japanese brushes and nori a rice starch. Dampened Washi paper- that is Japanese paper developed specifically to deal with the technique is laid onto the block using the integral unique Kento registration system- notches cut into the block where the paper corners fit. No presses are used each print is handmade using a bamboo baren, transferring the pigment from the block to the paper.

Since graduation she has won the Travers Smith CSR Award (RCA) and has been in many exhibitions notably regularly showing at the RA Summer Exhibition and the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair where in 2018 she was awarded the Intaglio Printmaking Prize and exhibited her 16 metre installation ‘Water’ in 2019. Next year she is due to deliver a paper to the Mokuhanga International Conference in Nara, Japan.

Her work is held in the Clifford Chance, RCA, CfSHE ,Tokyo, Awagami, Japan and V&A Print Collections.

Website: www.carolwilhide.com

Instagram: @caroljustin1

Facebook: Carol Wilhide Justin