Love of Labor

Is the human body a machine? In Love of Labor, I probe the limits of machines designed to repeat a task an infinite number of times. Here, the machine of the body works in conjunction with a decades-old Vandercook SP-20 proof press to push the boundaries of what both are capable of. The historic wood type that is printed also contributes its heritage and history to each print, lending a distinctiveness to each instance of the letter. And so, amongst the repetition, a uniqueness emerges in each printed character, each subject to influences of human, machine, and environmental factors.

Love of Labor consists of hundreds of unique images of vintage wood type. Each frame of the video was physically printed on paper using a Vandercook SP-20 proofing press, only adding ink at the beginning of a session in an attempt to push the limits of material and machine. Restricted by the scarcity of the wood type, the letters were printed one row at a time, moving the line down the page as the printing progressed. After scanning each page, the pages were digitally cut and assembled into a 35 second video.