Undertow by Pamela Dodds

Copyright Pamela Dodds

Undertow by Pamela Dodds. Exhibition view of the installation ‘Undertow’ at Impact 10, the International Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference in Santander, Spain, September 2018

The installation:
Undertow by Pamela Dodds
A suite of 10 relief prints, 2016-17
Woodcut, linocut and printed wood grain on Japanese paper
Each print 96 x 24 inches / 244 x 60 cm
Edition of 5

Pamela Dodds, ‘in my practice of relief printmaking, I explore the complexities of the human relationship. I create images where the gesture of the human form, when reflected or counterpointed within an expressive environment, can describe a complex and layered moment.

Undertow / Encuentros en las Corrientes Oceánicas addresses the subject of saving and being saved. Through imagery of paired female figures in the water, I examine inherent imbalances in a rescuer-rescuee relationship – the shifting desires, choices and pressures that might occur during the brief moments of a critical encounter.

The water imagery is printed in layers from the natural wood grain of plywood boards. The figure imagery is carved in separate wood or lino- blocks, and printed into the water / wood grain patterns. The suite forms a narrative sequence.’

Related Link

Artist Statement by Pamela Dodds