The Restless Bogman

The Restless Bogman is a book written by Artist, Laura Fitzgerald that accompanied her exhibition, I have made a place at the Crawford Art Gallery in 2021. Through the book, Laura wanted to find a way to explore ideas around ancestral memory. How the layers to a character are formed over time, almost turf-like. Laura set out to explore how an individual—a multiplicity of contradictions, could find a way to navigate through the contemporary world. The Restless Bogman is a means to allow anxieties, old bothareens of neural pathways, contrary ideas, to be footed up, wet, out of the ground. That in this process newer thoughts might come up to the air, brought to the surface, on the page, for drying. Laura Fitzgerald worked with us to help bring these ideas to life through this limited edition Risograph printed book.

The Restless Bogman was designed, Risograph printed and produced in-house. The final design takes the form of a tactile, playful and compact book that is reminiscent of a sod of turf. The story is told through the voice of the narrator, using the typeface ABC Favorit by Dinamo, with The Restless Bogman’s interjections characterised using Benoît Bodhuin’s Mineral Solid. The interior pages are printed on 100gsm Munken Lynx, french folded by hand, with colourful textured interiors. Printed using five soy-based inks — Black, Flat Gold, Yellow, Green and Medium Blue, the side profile of the book graduates in colour to reference rising through a cross section of the bog, from the depths to the surface. The book cover utilises the tactile qualities of Gmund Bier Bock Paper, with the title contrasting in a bright green foil, printed by PlusPrint in Dublin. A first edition of 200 copies has been produced.