South Gallery

Audrey Niffenegger is a multifaceted American writer, visual artist, and academic whose work bridges storytelling, printmaking, and book arts. She studied visual art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MFA from Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice in 1991.

Niffenegger’s artistic practice centers on handmade artist’s books and printmaking. Beginning in the early 1980s, she produced limited-edition works such as The Adventuress and The Three Incestuous Sisters, which combined original etchings with narrative text. These projects established her reputation in the book arts world and were later reproduced in trade editions, bringing her visual storytelling to a wider audience. She has also created graphic works like The Night Bookmobile and Raven Girl, which was adapted into a ballet by the Royal Opera House in London.

In 1994, she co-founded the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to print, paper, and bookmaking. Her prints, drawings, and artist’s books have been exhibited widely and are held in collections such as the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, British Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2019, she founded Artist Book House, a nonprofit in Chicago dedicated to the creation, teaching, and celebration of book arts. Her imagery often explores themes of time, memory, mortality, and the uncanny, weaving together visual narrative and psychological depth.

Niffenegger continues to balance her parallel careers in visual art and fiction, creating work that merges image, narrative, and imagination into singular, multidisciplinary forms.

Image: Audrey Niffenegger - "Befogged," 2025, oil on panel, 24 x 18 in. – image / 27½ x 21¾ in. – frame