Published 12 August 2024 in News
Natasha Norman's The Invisible Sea (Naval Hill) Commissioned by the Bloemfontein National Museum
Funded by the President's Employment Fund & Managed by the ArtBank of South Africa
Bloemfontein National Museum
36 Aliwal St, Bloemfontein Central, Bloemfontein, 9301, South Africa
The commission was an original Mokuhanga Print, making it the first Japanese woodblock print produced by a South African artist to enter a South African Museum Collection.
The commission is accompanied by a short process video of creating the work for the Museum's Education Programme which, together with the display of the woodblock and framed print, is intended to inspire visiting artists.
"The piece is titled: The Invisible Sea and takes inspiration from the landmark hill in Bloemfontein called Naval Hill. Bloemfontein is a landlocked city in the Karoo region. To have a landmark linked to the Navy immediately sparked my interest and the fact that the hill is still referred to by this clearly colonial name further ignited my imagination as to the past and future of a landscape described by the sea rather than the veld.
Naval Hill is so named because of the Naval cannons that were installed on it during the Boer War from a regiment of soldiers from the British Isles that hankered for their natal shores. Stretching the imagination even further back in time, The Invisible Sea also alludes to to the prehistoric sea of Gondwana that characterizes the current geography and geology of the karoo region in which Bloemfontein is situated. In a time before humankind this area was an inland sea, a prehistoric sanctuary for reptiles and amphibians.
The imagery of The Invisible Sea (Naval Hill) is inspired by my observations of the reflection of clouds in a body of water. After studying these forms, I made calligraphic marks in Sumi ink directly onto the woodblock. These forms were then carved into the wood, creating unexpected imagery that I then exploited in the printing process to create the final image. Using a Japanese registration system called kento enabled me to rotate the woodblock multiple times and employ selective inking and baren pressure to derive a multi-layered, complex image from a single carved woodblock. Ochre, Indigo, Turquoise and Cyan are layered in shifting intensities to evoke the prehistoric residue of water, wind, and sky on the land today."
Natasha Norman l The Invisible Sea (Naval Hill) l 2024 l Mokuhanga - Japanese woodblock print with Sumi ink on Washi paper l 60 x 46 cm
Natasha Norman l The Invisible Sea (Naval Hill) (Process Still) l 2024 l Mokuhanga - Japanese woodblock print with Sumi ink on Washi paper l 60 x 46 cm
Natasha Norman l The Invisible Sea (Naval Hill) (Process Still) l 2024 l Mokuhanga - Japanese woodblock print with Sumi ink on Washi paper l 60 x 46 cm
To watch the process video free of charge please visit The Artist's Patreon Page here.