Hauling the Fish Nets at Dawn in Katase/The Purple Shell (Murasakigai), from the series Shell-Matching Game with Genroku Poets (Genroku kasen kai-awase), with poems by Tsuki no ya Shitakage and Yomo no Utagaki no Magao Possibly 1821

Editor: This is Hokusai's "Hauling the Fish Nets at Dawn in Katase," a woodblock print. The figures are dynamically arranged. What do you see in this piece, especially regarding the physical exertion involved in their labor? Curator: The print highlights the physical demands of labor and resource extraction. The focus on the fishermen's coordinated actions draws attention to the social organization inherent in their industry. How does the materiality of woodblock printing itself relate to this portrayal of labor? Editor: That's interesting! The process of creating the print also involved labor. Curator: Exactly. We see a convergence of the labor depicted and the labor involved in its representation, blurring the lines between subject and object, production and consumption. Editor: I never thought of it that way. Now I see how the materials and processes connect to the themes in the art.