Feature - Yoko Kanayama

Congratulations to Yoyko Kanayama, a recent CalArts MFA graduate, for an honorable mention in Center's Project Launch competition. Her series, Urban Forestry comprises photos of Ficus Trees around LA. At first glance, they reminded me of Paul Graham's work from American Night but then I asked Yoko to explain her process to me:

What you are looking at are photographs viewed through silk screened Plexiglas. I take the photos with a 4 x 5 color negative and make a traditional c-print. Then I use Rapidograph ink to trace trees from the image on a sheet of Frosted Mylar. From this Rapidograph drawing, I expose the silkscreen and use translucent white ink to make silkscreen prints of trees on the Plexiglas. This process gives the work a little bit of a 3D effect.