This linocut explores the translation of photography into print through reduction and reversal. I was interested in how simplifying a photographic image for carving changes the way it is read, turning a detailed scene into a set of essential shapes and value relationships. The source image focuses on a moment where nature intersects with the urban landscape, isolating a quiet fragment of environment within the city.

Working with reduction linocut requires thinking in reverse and building the image through layered color. I used successive light and mid-tone layers, followed by a split fountain of light and dark gray to create depth and emphasize the shift from sidewalk to street. The process introduces small variations and unexpected surface effects that push the image toward abstraction while preserving its underlying structure.

The resulting print sits between representation and abstraction, shaped as much by the physical behavior of ink and carving as by the original photograph.