Voices After Evelyn is being released in concert with this limited-edition artist’s book entitled 53 Lines. Iowa artist and poet Julie Russell-Steuart (Caveworks Press) was commissioned by Maintenance Ends to take a 53-line excerpt from Harsch’s novel and explore the mystery of Evelyn’s disappearance through a unique “tetra tetra flexagon” structure, also known as “Jabob’s Ladder.” The artist’s book unfolds to reveal four different faces. As the reader/viewer moves though the series of unfoldings, images and words separate and recombine in surprising ways.
Russell-Steuart used imagery, both hand-drawn and photographic, to pick up elements from the first appearance of the novel’s “chorus” voice. Her photographs of rock and fossil formations became embedded in the narrative. 53 Lines is designed to circle around the mystery. The hand-numbered edition is in a series of 75.