Tataki zome take 1.

Following two trips to Japan in 2023 and 2024, co-leading study tours for RMIT School of Art students, I became aware of the Japanese technique of hammering flowers onto cloth to release their natural dyes, known as tataki zome. This technique seemed like a natural fit in my creative evolution towards more environmentally sustainable art practices, and also opened up the possibility of incorporating local flora into my artworks while travelling, particularly the wildflowers that filled the fields and forests of the Baltic States, without violating Australia's biosecurity laws. My first forays into the process, however, were a lot more local, utilising flowers from the streets surrounding my home in Northcote, and from my mother's garden in rural Woodleigh. 
I later learned that the paper needed to be pretreated with an alum mordant, so the colours are already beginning to fade.