In the statement for Annalise Gratovich’s solo exhibition, Carrying Things From Home, the gallery poses a couple of questions: “When war, displacement, and migration sever familial and cultural ties, how do we sustain a sense of self and ancestral connection? How do we hybridize in a new homeland?” For the artist, who is based in Austin and runs High Low Print Co., her family’s history informs a printmaking practice that explores deeply personal and even spiritual links to land, home, and a sense of belonging.
Hecho a Mano presents eight large-scale, hand-carved woodblock prints in Carrying Things From Home, which have been painstakingly created between 2014 and 2025. Gratovich meticulously carves totemic, matryoshka-like figures that stand nearly life-size with headdresses of flora and fauna and garments that resemble embroidered Ukrainian textiles.
The series taps into Gratovich’s ancestral history, nodding to the tumult of World War II when her grandparents fled Ukraine in the cover of night with their son—the artist’s father—and could only take what they could physically carry. “What was lost or left behind has become a source of mystery and mythology, and through printmaking, I investigate how this absence influences my sense of self and how I value materiality,” she says.
The blocks themselves can take up to six months to carve, and then working with her team, Gratovich adds thin pieces of colorful paper through chine collé. “For my most recent works in the series, ‘The Healer’ and ‘The Fool,’ I prepared close to 2,000 pieces of paper,” she says. “They have 69 and 70 pieces of hand dyed paper coloring each woodcut, respectively.”
Gratovich’s serene figures coalesce with nature and symbolic objects, such as musical instruments and animals, reflected in titles like “The Builder,” who holds a raptor, and “The Healer,” who balances a swirling, cosmic flow of energy. And from carved block to expansive print, the process requires precision and a few helping hands. “There’s a community aspect that’s engaging and fun—my big woodcuts require a team of four people to print,” the artist tells Colossal. “We use a printing press that is over four by eight feet, and everyone is integral in the printing process.”
Carrying Things From Home continues through June 28 in Santa Fe. Gratovich is also preparing for a residency at Hello Print Friend Studios in Chang Mai, Thailand, after which she’ll be the keynote speaker at the Guild of Bookworkers’ Standards of Excellence 2026 conference. That takes place in Austin, where she also has a studio at the Canopy Austin complex, which is open by appointment. See more on the artist’s Instagram.
