| Title | Redux |
| Subtitle | Condensed Belongings |
| Artist / Creator | Birgit Nielsen |
| Place of Publication | Guerneville, California |
| Publication Date | 2013 |
| Process / Technique | Typeset by hand and printed on a 1915 Chandler & Price, photographs laser-printed |
| Structure / Binding | Japanese stab binding |
| Medium / Materials | Thai hyacinth or mango leaf flyleaves, tea-stained drafting paper |
| Paper Stock | Neenah Natural White, Drafting Paper, Cover Stock |
| Number of Pages | 40 pages |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 5.5 x 8.5 x .25 inches closed |
| Edition Size | Edition of 35 |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed and numbered edition |
Redux is a collection of memoir shorts, observations, and one-liners on the subject of "identity" and "belongings." As a intercontinental transplant, I have often packed my bags, discarding up to 95% of my belongings each time to make the move financially feasible and practical. The perspective changes. The evidence of the past is left behind. The past is out of context. Identity shifts and changes, grows and fades, but what, I wondered, is at its core? What do we remember, what do we hang on to, what do we say after a lot of new starts and reinventions to describe our identity? In Redux, I have attempted to build the story of my identity out of select disparate pieces of a life. Theme and coherence were surprising.
Artist Bio
Birgit Nielsen grew up in Berlin. Her youth was a melange of classical music, Lutheran ethics, and rebellion in the epicenter of the Cold War. In school, she focused on studies of German Expressionism, English, and 20th century history and went on to study translation. She has worked as artist liaison, art director, translator and writer. Her work has taken her to Montreal, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Portland, OR. She holds an MFA from Goddard College, VT, where she studied select writers, e.g., Celan and Bulgakov, who used satire, innovative narrative form or word creation to show the collapse of social structures and political upheaval. Words are her medium. Storytelling and page design continue to intrigue her. Prompted by letterpress, Birgit is investigating the art of story from both the traditional book form as well as the evolving 21st century narrative perspective. She lives in Northern California where she typesets and prints at NBLA (North Bay Letterpress Art).