This leporello book is composed of three folded mokuhanga woodcut prints of snowy egrets on vintage Yamaguchi washi. The front and back book covers are pasted over with woodcut printed black washi; both endsheets are black and white suminagashi washi. Handmade by the artist with simple construction, the book shows imperfections in printing. The egrets are based on the artist’s photographs of snowy egrets fighting furiously over sand crabs at the Pacific coast in Santa Cruz, California. Their elegant shapes are stretched and their feathers ruffled in an anger that is both elemental and ridiculous. The true threat lies elsewhere: pollution, climate change and habitat loss make nesting colonies vulnerable to raccoons and other opportunistic predators.
