This week Miranda speaks with David Barker of the Muban Education Trust, an organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting contemporary Chinese woodblock prints.

David is a researcher, writer, former professor of printmaking, and one of the leading English-language scholars working on Chinese printmaking today, having contributed to a number of books published by The British Library, The British Museum and The China National Academy of Fine Arts contributing regularly to the journal Printmaking Today. He joins the podcast today in his role as the Senior Research Fellow at the Muban Educational Trust weeks before the trust was to show at the London Original Print Fair. 

In this conversation, they discuss the history of the Trust, how a small London-based institution became one of the most important collections of contemporary Chinese woodblock prints outside of China, and the relationships they’ve built with artists and academies across the country over the last three decades.

They talk about the continuing importance of woodblock printing in China, the role of institutions like the Central Academy and Hangzhou Academy in preserving traditional techniques while fostering contemporary experimentation, and why woodblock remains such a vital and evolving medium for young artists today. David also reflects on the educational mission of the Trust, the challenges of collecting and exhibiting contemporary Chinese prints internationally, and the fascinating lineage that connects today’s artists back to some of the earliest print traditions in the world.