@riesling_dong | rieslingd.com | Circa 1943 | artist book, 8″x10″ |
Riesling Dong is a Chicago-based book artist and graphic designer focusing on the interactivity of the book form and experimental publishing across print and digital formats. Currently teaching at SAIC and Spudnik Press, she works closely with artists to develop creative solutions within book arts. Her practice bridges technical processes and conceptual experimentation, treating books as dynamic, participatory objects.
5 Questions
My journey to being in the United States is something I undertook on my own. I came here driven by a search for opportunity, educational, creative, and economic, but also by a need to build a life for myself on my own terms. That decision carries both a sense of independence and a kind of solitude. It is an ongoing process of adjustment and redefinition, shaped by what I have chosen to leave behind and what I am still trying to build.
This has made my relationship to family and community more intentional. Being here alone means that community is not something I inherit, but something I actively create. I think a lot about how to build that through my work, especially through print media. Risograph printing feels important to me because of its accessibility and its ability to circulate ideas widely. I am interested in how print can function as a shared space, a way of distributing knowledge and creating entry points for people who might not otherwise have access. The communities I am part of are built through making, publishing, teaching, and exchanging work. They are not fixed, but they are real and sustained through care.
My relationship to home and tradition has shifted. Without the physical presence of family, those ideas feel less stable and more constructed. Tradition becomes something I carry in fragments, something I return to and reshape. Home is not a single place, but something I build through practice, through relationships, and through the spaces I help create.
The pull between my present life and my roots is strongest in moments where I feel that distance most clearly, in language, in cultural references, in the absence of people who would understand without explanation. There is a tension between moving forward and holding onto what I come from. I do not resolve that tension, but I live within it.
My hope is centered around building a life and practice that can hold that complexity. Through Risograph printing and publishing, I am working toward democratizing knowledge and creating community through access and exchange. I want to build spaces where people can share ideas, learn from each other, and feel a sense of connection, especially for those who, like me, are building something on their own.
Butterfly Effect: Bridging Borders Exhibiting Artists
Aileen Nicole Castro • Akira – Light that Heals • Alejandra Lemus • Alex Covarrubias – Red Cave • Anna Silvonchik • Arte Duran • Bane.xxa • Christian Joshua Varela Solis • Cindy Uriostegui – Cattco • Cristina Marquez • Elena Diadenko • Elena Pach • EMNI • Gabriel Guzman • Grecia Solorio • Idil Duman • Isaac Galvan • Janis Appleton* • Javier Viñuela*• Kaltra • Kybo • Mariana Perez • Mary Antar • Pamela Rubi Trejo Soria • Peauxline • raqui • Riesling Dong • Rocio “Chio” Cabrera-Coz • Sailee Charlu • Shalala Salamzadeh • Sharvani Rathna Chittem* • Stef Skills • Victoria Park • *Group collaboration