Wuon-Gean Ho

Storytelling, human emotion and a gentle sense of humour run through Wuon-Gean’s Ho’s distinctive limited edition prints. Inspired by the distorted view of fish-eye lens photography and the shifting perspective of Chinese scrolls, her imagery features characters often pictured at night-time, engrossed in the task at hand whether it be bathing, cutting their own hair or gazing, lost in thought, at a starlit sky.

Wuon-Gean uses a mix of traditional relief printing and a unique way of applying ink to her blocks which creates the illusion of light in her work. She says; ‘I use monoprinting techniques to gently move the ink on the surface of each block in order to extend the range of tones.’ The resulting scenes are captivating, and conjure, in the artist’s words, ‘a sense of awe and hopefully a little bit of the sublime.'

Wuon-Gean was born in Oxford and graduated with a BA in History of Art from Cambridge University, before taking up a Japanese Government Scholarship in 1998 to study woodblock printmaking in Japan. She later studied for an MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, graduating with a distinction in 2016, and then was etching fellow at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Wuon-Gean has undertaken several artistic residencies in countries including Italy, China and the USA. She has exhibited her prints widely in Europe and has been awarded several prizes including the British Institution Award given at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in 2014. Currently she is a research associate and editor of the IMPACT Printmaking Journal published by the University of West of England, Bristol. She also works part-time as a vet. Wuon-Gean lives and works in east London.

Watch the V&A Museum’s video exploring Wuon-Gean’s printmaking practice.