“Printmaking as resistance; often used to address social and political themes, the history of printmaking as a form of dissent is well documented. From protest posters to zines to leaflets, printmaking possesses the unique ability to disseminate information camouflaged as art. Innately more egalitarian and accessible, and therefore less precious and valuable, the production of prints is often a community activity that can also easily enter the public sphere.” Jessica Caponigro

Nearly 2,000 years ago Cai Lun, an innovative Chinese paper maker introduced a paper that included a mixture of recycled materials like old fishing nets and hemp waste. This mixture produced a paper that was more affordable and therefore newly accessible to industries developing on a parallel spectrum- book making for example. As paper making technology improved, literacy rates in China soared.

Following a similar timeline, a paper product called Amatl was being produced from the bark of ficus trees in what is now Mexico. During the Spanish colonial period as part of cultural genocide, its production and use was forbidden, replacing it with European paper. An act of resistance, production of Amate continued in some rural regions of the contemporary states of Puebla and Veracruz.

For centuries paper making as a product of skilled labor spread from China & Japan to the Middle East and then to Europe via Sicily and Spain during Arab occupation. It wasn't until the 11th century that the very first water powered paper mills were used by Muslim paper makers in Spain.

Designs for a machine producing continuous sheets of paper, which would make printing like newspapers possible were developed in 1797 France during the French Revolution.

The instability of French industry during this time propelled the designs to England. In 1803 at the start of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) England began the process of paper making mechanization.

The demand for industrial production of paper increased in the 19th century as a result of rising literacy rates and improvements in distribution of paper products. After less than a century of exploding demand and the recycled materials like rags could not supply enough raw material and paper makers began to use wood pulp.

During this time, the so called United States began establishing paper mills on stolen native land and the lumber industry began decimating remote ancestral forests, feeding logs to the mill towns downriver. By 1885 Massachusetts was home to the largest producer of paper in the world. In 1907 a single company operating in New Hampshire cut 40 million acres of forest.

According to contemporary archaeologists, nearly 5,000 years ago Egyptians used ink on papyrus. Approximately 4,000 years ago Chinese ink makers used a combination of minerals (pigment) plants (pigment, viscosity) & animals (glue) to produce inks that could be used effectively in Chinese writing instruments.

India Ink, popular even today, was produced by Chinese ink makers in 220 AD on the Gregorian calendar, approx. 1,800 years ago. This ink was easily transportable in beautifully molded ink sticks and were sought after all over the world. The term "India Ink" was coined through British acquisition of ink from Indian trade routes in the 16th century.

Innovation in ink making during the 15th century was stimulated by the emergence of the printing press. The tendency for traditional inks to smear during printing made it necessary to develop a new oily varnish ink more suitable for printing.

版画 Banhua prints made from carving into the surface of a wood block, covering the design with ink and pressing it onto another surface to ‘duplicate’ the image appeared during the Han dynasty in China nearly 2,300 years ago. These prints were made on silk and other textiles. Closer to 1,500 years ago prints onto paper became popular in China and approximately 1,200 years ago a complete book, the Buddhist ‘Diamond Sutra’ was printed and dedicated to the public domain “for universal and free distribution”.

Nearly 1,000 years ago Chinese printmaker Bi Sheng created a moveable type system out of porcelain, which was improved on by Wang Zhen 250 years later by carving the type pieces into wood blocks which was more durable for regular and repeated use. Further developments in printmaking led to the Chinese design of copper type pieces to print Song dynasty money. A little over 600 years ago the Korean production of the buddhist text Jikji was completed using bronze type pieces. Printmaking spread through modern day Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Russia and Iran.

Via the Islamic world of printmakers nearly 700 years ago, Europe saw the introduction of block prints on textiles and a little more than a hundred years later the first European printmakers began working with paper. This led to what is considered in the commercial art world as the “Old Master Prints” and include works by artist like Rembrant and Goya. Many scholar believe that it was printmaking that led to the international reputations of this group of artists as prints were much more accessible than original paintings.

A well known example of Mexican printmaking is artist José Guadalupe Posada (1851–1913) be was a Mexican artist known for his satirical and politically charged Calavera (skulls in English) compositions printed in inexpensive literature for the public. Through a focus on mortality the details of bourgeois life and the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz were satirized as a form of resistance. Posada died three years after the start of the Mexican Revolution.

“Resistance as printmaking is an attempt to create new conditions under which others can access art. It is also about breaking down the dominant logic of exchange that dictates the division between the producers and consumers of art, while increasing possibilities for expression, communication, and participation….Because they rely on hand processes, analog printing methods are limited in their capacity to produce large quantities. These built-in limitations are seen as antithetical to the hegemonic logics of mass state or corporate communication. Hand-printing processes, small print runs, and local distribution are ostensibly more democratic because they are accessible on multiple levels” The Brooklyn Rail