Kim began the paintings in Facing Work in June 2016 and completed the last one in April 2017. Defining her art production by the limited time and resources available to her as a working mom, Kim filled a single sketchbook with 54 paintings of workers she sees in her daily life. Joined by class and paint, the individual workers evolved into a single collective body of invisible labor made visible.
FACING WORK LIMITED FIRST EDITION includes essays on art/process and service work, all 54 paintings, documentary photos of the living work, and observations of lives and people behind the paint. Vibrant and furious, introspective and explosive, the writing and art combined are a testament to the humanity and inhumanity behind service work. The paintings insist you see the faces inside them, and the writing in the book insists you think about the the who serve you. Exploring the faces behind the cash register, Kim's book opens dialogue that transcends transaction.