On Reflection

by Zach Clark

On Reflection is a collection of print based work presented as an attempt to document urban interactions with the sun in the increasingly shortened daylight of early Estonian winter. Images, text, and textures printed primarily through silver gelatin photography and the near obsolete method of mimeograph printing offer alternative and experimental approaches to capturing the ephemeral nature of light and the difficulty of language to describe it. Existing as a document of the passing of days, work created within this collection was made through November and December 2024, while an Artist in Residence at TYPA Centre, in Tartu, Estonia.

On Reflection exists in wall/exhibition form as well as in this publication form. Neither the wall/exhibition pieces nor the publication are the "original" form of the work, but rather two presentations of the same body of work. 

The publication was printed over 15 months across two continents, beginning in Tartu, Estonia in November 2024 through completion in Oakland, CA in January 2026. Mimeograph printing was completed with a Gestetner 360 at TYPA Print Centre Tartu onto Fabriano Copy Tinta papers. The original silver gelatin photos were made at this same time. Risograph printing was completed with an SF9450 at Chute Studio, Oakland, CA onto French Speckletone and Accent Opaque papers. Letterpress printing was completed with a Vandercook SP15 at the San Francisco Center For The Book, San Francisco CA, onto Canson Mi-Tientes paper. Typesetting was completed in Reflecta, a typeface designed by Zach Clark to digitize and complete the initial hand drawn text from the mimeograph pages, and Aino Headline, a typeface by Brand Estonia. Both typefaces are available online for free.  

Due to the ephemeral nature and scarcity of mimeograph stencils, and the direct contact involved in making them, this publication exists in an entirely unreproducible edition of 50 copies, at least in this form.

Copies of the publication are available on here.