Sachiko Purser

MA Printmaking

I am a Cambridge based artist and printmaker. I was born and raised in Kyushu, in the southwest of Japan, in an environment which was close to nature and to animals - both of which have had a major influence on me.

I am passionate about nature and the environment, especially the welfare of animals and birds. I combine traditional techniques such as Japanese wood engraving and Sumi-ink painting with a contemporary perspective of printmaking and digital techniques to create mixed organic-technological hybrids.

My recent series of work Endangered Species, shown in the MA Degree show, seeks to raise awareness of the wave of extinction in the natural world by creating images of vanishing animals, and communicating important environmental issues to the viewer. Species are quietly disappearing from Earth. I capture their existence by creating images of ghostly humanised animals and birds. Japanese Sumi-ink paintings of animal portraits were combined with monochrome photographs of environmental backgrounds. Finally, they were digitally adjusted for the Photopolymer printing method.