2021 Honorable Mention – Elizabeth Hungerman
Milkweed Deconstructed
Medium: Prints
This book began as a picture of a milkweed fruit under the microscope. This perspective, in addition with the process of producing a print, serves to further abstract the image. People oftentimes get caught up in the everyday worries of life, ignoring the many lifeforms that surround us at all times; plants surround us, engaged in their own form of living. This piece hopes to encourage people to consider a new perspective, through both the subject matter and form. This book is composed of a series of mokuhanga prints that have been taken apart and reassembled onto a sturdier paper. The cutouts in this paper serve to further unify the prints and the backing paper, while simultaneously activating the space surrounding the book. These cutouts act as windows, making the book permeable, an active part of the environment created by the worker, viewer and surroundings.