{"title":"PrintLab supported by The Pew Center for Arts \u0026 Heritage","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003ePrintLab is an extension of the Visiting Artist Residency program at Brandywine Workshop and Archives. Born from a grant awarded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the program invited eight artists to push their printmaking practices in new directions, specifically through scale, audio, and digital media. The intention was never simply to expand the work outward in scale, but to challenge each artist to find something genuinely new within themselves and within the medium. What has resulted is a body of work reflecting that inquiry’s depth.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"aunt-lou-2021-2025","title":"Aunt Lou","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAunt Lou\u003c\/em\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003ePhotolithograph on paper\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 20\u003cbr\u003e24 x 17 1\/2 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Justine Ditto\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAunt Lou\u003c\/em\u003e tells the story of Chong's maternal grandmother, Aunt Lou, who was estranged from his mother as an infant and fled to British Honduras. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eWhen he arrived in New York from his native home, Jamaica, Chong's mother sent him the only photograph she had of herself as a child, torn. In search of repair, of the rupture between Chong and Jamaica, he rephotographed it and began building still lifes around it by layering organic materials, found objects, and eventually AI-generated imagery over these archival familial faces creating what Chong describes as \"material shamanism.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFor most of his life, Chong had no idea what his maternal grandmother looked like. During a visit to an aging aunt, he discovered a trove of photographs that had never been shared with the rest of the family. The image of Aunt Lou had always been a ghost in the family. During the pandemic, he enlarged the photograph in his sunlit bedroom and watched the light fall across her face. He photographed that moment, layered dandelions and wildflowers over it, and assembled the still life that became the basis for his PrintLab work. The edition is split between paper and copper. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Albert Chong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45569731297430,"sku":null,"price":2500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/AlbertChong8.jpg?v=1781657541"},{"product_id":"the-seven-paddlers-2025","title":"The Seven Paddlers, 2025","description":"\u003cp style=\"line-height: 115%;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003eThe Seven Paddlers\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e4 Color Lithograph on Buff Somerset Velvet\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e22 x 30 inches\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003eCollaborating Printer: Justine Ditto\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(2, 8, 23); font-family: 'Aptos Display', sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;\"\u003eThis work is rooted in a cosmology drawn from the Maya world. At the center of the composition appears the celestial canoe, a direct reference to the “paddler gods” of Mesoamerican mythology. The seven figures seated within the vessel embody these moving deities, symbolizing the apparent journey of the sun through the Milky Way.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first and the last paddler represent the solstices, pivotal moments of balance and transition within the solar cycle. The central paddler embodies the sun itself, while the four intermediate figures correspond to the constellations traversed by the sun along its cosmic path. Together, they form a ritual reading of time, movement, and celestial order.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbove the canoe appears a head derived from sacred Maya numeration, symbolizing zero—the principle of origin, fertile emptiness, and latent potential. Mirroring this form below the canoe, a second head represents one, the sign of beginning, emergence, and manifestation. This duality establishes a direct reference to the binary world (0 \/ 1), echoing our contemporary era in which digital systems structure technology, information flows, and modes of thought.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe figure of the Kioukan, here unfolding in the form of an organic vine, weaves through and structures the entire work. It acts as a living connector between cosmic, symbolic, and terrestrial realms, guiding the viewer’s gaze across the composition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe use of colors in the background evokes the tangled density of the tropical forest, a metaphor for an interconnected, living world where ancestral memory and contemporary temporality intersect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height: 115%;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Aptos Display',sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Aptos Display'; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; color: #020817;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003ePublished by Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jocelyn Akwaba Matignon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45569744109718,"sku":null,"price":1800.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/TheSevenPaddlers_2025.jpg?v=1769456479"},{"product_id":"jogging","title":"Jogging - Dusk \u0026 Dawn","description":"\u003cp\u003eJogging - Dusk \u0026amp; Dawn, 2025\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e20 x 30in\u003cbr\u003eCollaborating Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eJogging\u003c\/em\u003e was conceived during the pandemic. Confined to her neighborhood in Brooklyn, Lee begin filming people walking and jogging in Prospect Park for two years, across all four seasons. Working with master printer Alexis Nutini, she produced 300 individual drawings that Nutini carved and printed as woodcut matrices, assembled into a two-channel animation with a circular structure. The monochromatic palette shifts to suggest the movement of day into night. In the ordinary rhythm of bodies moving through a public park, Lee finds something both intimate and universal, a meditation on everydayness, shared time, and the small repeated gestures that contribute to life at large.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe edition of 30 features 4 stills from the animation signifying the figures in the image coming and going at Dusk and Dawn.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kakyoung Lee","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46420260585622,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/BWA_Kakyoung_Lee_2.jpg?v=1781200861"},{"product_id":"poppies-will-make-you-sleepy","title":"Poppies will make you Sleepy","description":"\u003cp\u003ePoppies will make you Sleepy, 2026\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e29 3\/4 x 21 3\/4 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor her PrintLab residency, Ballard collaborated with master printer Alexis Nutini to develop a print that expresses the deliberate tension between beauty and violence that runs throughout her practice, what she calls the “bitter and sweet.” This work began in the archival holdings of the Library of Congress, HBCUs, and the Tulane Amistad Research Center, seeking out centuries old images of historically labelled non-famous, non-enslaved Black subjects. The print’s central image is a black-and-white carte de visite by the German-Brazilian photographer Alberto Henschel around 1869 while in Pernambuco, Brazil. Often intimate portraits, carte de visites were a popular type of photograph during the nineteenth century comprised of small photographs mounted on cardstock and exchanged among friends and family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProminent photographer, Alberto Henschel, established studios in several Brazilian cities during the mid-nineteenth century, known for his portraits of both elite citizens and enslaved people. The image depicts a Black woman, likely enslaved, wearing European-style clothing and earrings, highlighting the complex social dynamics of fashion and status in 19th-century Brazil. Little is known of her fate beyond her believed transportation from Brazil to Louisiana in the American South where many of her cards were traded. The image was captured during a period when slavery was still legal in Brazil, which was not abolished until 1888.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second image is of an engraving titled Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave, produced by the artist William Blake. It was created for the 1796 book Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam by John Gabriel Stedman. The scene depicts a woman of African and European descent, known as a “Sambo” at the time, tied to a tree and subjected to violence. The image became a significant piece of visual propaganda for the British abolitionist movement and is currently held in multiple British Museums. These are rare images of enslaved people depicted in explicit terms regarding abuse. This was uncommon for travel narratives. Ballard intentionally subverts these archival findings in her work by transforming this violent image into something that reads innocently, almost like a stamp utilizing haint blue. This color is traditionally used in Louisiana, where her father’s family is from, to paint porch doorways and ward\u003cbr\u003eoff evil spirits. This pigment is a common motif throughout Ballard’s work acting as a subtle yet protective gesture for the figures she consoles in her compositions. These signals diverge in the gallery as an ancestral call home. Ballard also utilizes poppies to invoke her mother, who loved flowers and passed away in 2019. Since then, floral motifs have become Ballard’s way of keeping her mother present in the work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lavett Ballard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46420381434006,"sku":null,"price":2500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/LavettBallard.jpg?v=1781203554"},{"product_id":"birth-of-the-blues","title":"Birth of the Blues","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues\u003c\/em\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 15\u003cbr\u003e50 x 70 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues \u003c\/em\u003ereturns to one of the most charged images in Willie Cole's practice of the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, the Clotilda. Cole had acquired a high-resolution image through the Getty and began working with it first as a sculpture, then as a print. The sculpture was part of a 2022 exhibition at Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York. This riveting showcase, built entirely around 75 guitars donated by Yamaha, fused with shackled mannequins standing in beds of rice, was an homage to Cole's Gullah Geechee heritage and a meditation on the entanglement of oppression and creativity at the root of American music. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCole noticed that the yokes placed around the necks of the imprisoned were the same basic shape as a guitar. The connection was immediate. The instrument that became the language of the blues—of resistance and longing, resembles the very instrument of bondage that it opposes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorking with master printer Alexis Nutini for PrintLab, Cole desired translating the image into a large-scale woodcut. As the oldest print medium in western tradition long associated with books and political messaging, the process could carry the weight of such a heavy and difficult subject. And, because Cole’s vision exceeded what a single sheet could accommodate, the work was ultimately printed in 20 individual panels. This solution resonated with Cole’s lifelong relationship to puzzles, always drawn to the idea of taking parts and assembling them into a whole.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Willie Cole","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46420384972950,"sku":null,"price":80000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/Birth_of_the_Blues_Woodcut_-_Willie_Cole_Full_assembly.jpg?v=1781204978"},{"product_id":"aunt-lou-copper","title":"Aunt Lou (Copper)","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAunt Lou (Copper)\u003c\/em\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003ePhototransfer on Copper Plate\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 10\u003cbr\u003e24 x 17 1\/2 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Justine Ditto\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAunt Lou\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e(Copper)\u003c\/em\u003e tells the story of Chong's maternal grandmother, Aunt Lou, who was estranged from his mother as an infant and fled to British Honduras. For most of his life, Chong had no idea what his maternal grandmother looked like. During a visit to an aging aunt, he discovered a trove of photographs that had never been shared with the rest of the family. The image of Aunt Lou had always been a ghost in the family. During the pandemic, he enlarged the photograph in his sunlit bedroom and watched the light fall across her face. He photographed that moment, layered dandelions and wildflowers over it, and assembled the still life that became the basis for his PrintLab work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe edition is split between paper and copper. Chong has worked with copper since graduate school, drawn to its softness and impressionability, which Chong describes as “poor man’s gold.” The copper introduces the highlights and the shadows must be minimal, or the surface loses its glow. The precision Chong demonstrates in his use of a delicate medium like copper reflects that of the fleeting nature and materiality of memory in his practice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Albert Chong","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46420428587158,"sku":null,"price":5000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/AuntLou_Copper_-AlbertChong.jpg?v=1781651103"},{"product_id":"the-little-rootkeeper","title":"The Little Rootkeeper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Little Rootkeeper\u003c\/em\u003e, 2026\u003cbr\u003ePhotolithograph with hand-applied ink on paper\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e31 1\/2 x 24 1\/2 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Justine Ditto\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of her ongoing \u003cem\u003eSongkeepers \u003c\/em\u003eseries, Martin created \u003cem\u003eThe Little Rootkeeper\u003c\/em\u003e. The little girl, Sap, modeled closely after Martin's cousin is a keeper of roots, attuned to the spiritual realm. Martin, a printmaker in her own practice, brought the photolithographic process that she had been exploring into new territory. building up image in depth in the collaborative space of the residency. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eSongkeepers\u003c\/em\u003e series follows women who are direct decedents of the Flying Africans, figures from African diasporic mythology, who rather than continue to endure bondage, took flight. In Martin's telling, these women no longer fly, instead transforming into trees and becoming protectors of the earth and human memory.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Delita Martin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46423834034326,"sku":null,"price":4500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/DelitaMatin.jpg?v=1781652718"},{"product_id":"dife-nan-zo-mwen","title":"Dife nan zo mwen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eDife nan zo mwen\u003c\/em\u003e, 2026\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e23 3\/4 x 18 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThinking about Louisiana as a surrogate homeland where Haiti's presence is acknowledged, and the connective tissue of ancestry is visible and tangible. William left Haiti as a young child, but keeps stories, photographs and family narratives alive through his work. While in Louisiana, William began studying the cypress trees in the bayou, characters in themselves telling their own stories. The figures in the work are covered in eyes, occupying a hybrid space brought into view by carving the wood of the birch tree in variations of colors. The work consists of fifteen colors and nine layers, the difference being made up through blend rolls. The rays signify a fiery portal into the consciousness of the material figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Didier William","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46423874666646,"sku":null,"price":4500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/P131-22.jpg?v=1781714593"},{"product_id":"3-or-4-shades-of-the-blues","title":"3 or 4 Shades of the Blues","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e3 or 4 Shades of the Blues\u003c\/em\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 30\u003cbr\u003e18 x 30 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e3 or 4 Shades of the\u003c\/em\u003e Blues is an excerpt from the larger assembly \u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues\u003c\/em\u003e also produced during Cole's PrintLab residency. The prints from \u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues\u003c\/em\u003e returns to one of the most charged images in Willie Cole's practice of the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, the Clotilda. Cole had acquired a high-resolution image through the Getty and began working with it first as a sculpture, then as a print. The sculpture was part of a 2022 exhibition at Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York. This riveting showcase, built entirely around 75 guitars donated by Yamaha, fused with shackled mannequins standing in beds of rice, was an homage to Cole's Gullah Geechee heritage and a meditation on the entanglement of oppression and creativity at the root of American music. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCole noticed that the yokes placed around the necks of the imprisoned were the same basic shape as a guitar. The connection was immediate. The instrument that became the language of the blues—of resistance and longing, resembles the very instrument of bondage that it opposes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorking with master printer Alexis Nutini for PrintLab, Cole desired translating the image into a large-scale woodcut. As the oldest print medium in western tradition long associated with books and political messaging, the process could carry the weight of such a heavy and difficult subject. And, because Cole’s vision exceeded what a single sheet could accommodate, the work was ultimately printed in 20 individual panels. This solution resonated with Cole’s lifelong relationship to puzzles, always drawn to the idea of taking parts and assembling them into a whole.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Willie Cole","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46423877058710,"sku":null,"price":15000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/BirthoftheBlues_Woodcut_-WillieCole_excerpt.jpg?v=1781655667"},{"product_id":"birth-of-the-blues-1","title":"Birth of the Blues","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues\u003c\/em\u003e, 2025\u003cbr\u003eWoodcut\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 10\u003cbr\u003e14 x 14 in.\u003cbr\u003eCollaborative Printer: Alexis Nutini\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBirth of the Blues \u003c\/em\u003e(14 x 14) returns to one of the most charged images in Willie Cole's practice of the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, the Clotilda. Cole had acquired a high-resolution image through the Getty and began working with it first as a sculpture, then as a print. The sculpture was part of a 2022 exhibition at Alexander and Bonin Gallery in New York. This riveting showcase, built entirely around 75 guitars donated by Yamaha, fused with shackled mannequins standing in beds of rice, was an homage to Cole's Gullah Geechee heritage and a meditation on the entanglement of oppression and creativity at the root of American music. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCole noticed that the yokes placed around the necks of the imprisoned were the same basic shape as a guitar. The connection was immediate. The instrument that became the language of the blues—of resistance and longing, resembles the very instrument of bondage that it opposes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorking with master printer Alexis Nutini for PrintLab, Cole desired translating the image into a large-scale woodcut. As the oldest print medium in western tradition long associated with books and political messaging, the process could carry the weight of such a heavy and difficult subject. And, because Cole’s vision exceeded what a single sheet could accommodate, the work was ultimately printed in 20 individual panels. This solution resonated with Cole’s lifelong relationship to puzzles, always drawn to the idea of taking parts and assembling them into a whole.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Willie Cole","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46423878664342,"sku":null,"price":10000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/files\/BirthoftheBlues_Woodcut_-WillieCole_Key.jpg?v=1781656120"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0482\/6470\/8246\/collections\/P131-14.jpg?v=1781714068","url":"https:\/\/brandywine.art\/collections\/printlab-supported-by-the-pew-center-for-arts-heritage.oembed","provider":"Brandywine.Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}