My practice interrogates origin, inheritance, and the mutable nature of identity through visual systems that merge ritual and chance. Recitations—a series of multimodal copperplate etchings produced between St. Petersburg, FL, and Buffalo, NY in 2022–2023—extends this inquiry by integrating symbolic logics from cartomancy and astrology with experimental printmaking processes.
Grounded in my training in Ikebana at the Sogetsu School in Tokyo, I employ principles of asymmetry, negative space, and impermanence as compositional strategies. These formal devices operate as metaphors for balance and transformation, framing identity as a constellation in motion. By synthesizing the traditional craft of Sashiko embroidery with contemporary design, my work engages discourses on ritual, semiotics, and the phenomenology of perception.
Ultimately, these pieces function as visual epistemologies—systems that resist closure and invite interpretive agency, offering viewers a space to contemplate uncertainty, memory, and the unseen.
“Recitations”
Multimodal etchings on copper plate by M. Yoho Dorsey, created between St. Petersburg, FL and Buffalo, NY (2022)
Print Publisher: Mirabo Press, Buffalo, NY
Drawing from the ritual language of funerary texts in the Book of the Dead, the symbolic structures of cartomancy, and the rhythmic geometry of Sashiko hand embroidery, Recitations weaves together systems of guidance, protection, and divination. Through layered etching processes on copper plate, the series explores how sacred texts, pattern-making traditions, and intuitive mark-making intersect as forms of remembrance and revelation.
The works operate as visual incantations—echoes of ancestral instructions, pathways, and protective thresholds—inviting viewers to consider how we navigate the spaces between loss, transformation, and the unknown.
Recitations, 2022–2023
Location: St. Petersburg, FL & Buffalo, NY
Medium: Copperplate etching, Sashiko-inspired stitching, mixed media
Concept:
This series integrates symbolic systems from cartomancy and astrology with experimental printmaking. Drawing from Sashiko embroidery, the works explore ritual, semiotics, and perception, creating open-ended visual systems that invite viewers to navigate ambiguity, memory, and unseen forces.