Artist Biography
Letterpress typographer

Description of Process
This piece is produced to celebrate the song “Jungle Music” by the artist Jeru the Damaja. I wanted to create a triptych with one part each holding a verse of these powerful rap lyrics. Lyrics which detail the abuse, suppression and appropriation black music has suffered in America. I wanted the lyrics to feel locked in place and built backgrounds to contain them using wooden and metal furniture and the back of wooden type, which I raised to type high through flipping locked up forms in chases. Multi-layered typography, printing letters over each other, gave a feeling of re-written or subverted messages. The materials I used took on a symbolism when combined: the metal of chains, the textured wood used in shipbuilding, and the paper made of cotton—all seemed to connect deeply to the messages in the lyrics.