Love Letters is addressed to my first love, Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen — a humble North-Eastern suburb of Melbourne. For me, Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen holds the weight of childhood, belonging, growing up, and memory. Reflecting upon the ways that this place has quietly and irrevocably shaped who I am today, the inaugural issue of Love Letters brings together a collection of stories, interviews, and games — complete with a detachable map. Nestled within the newspaper is also an invitation to write your own Love Letter to a part of your life that has remained close to your heart.
Bountiful Bolin-Bolin
The conceptual basis of this project was primarily drawn from this photograph I took in 2020. With it, I have been inspired to produce several screen prints, an animation, and now, a love letter to the place I grew up in.
Home, c. 2015
Screen print by Monique Pulvirenti
2024
Screen print by Monique Pulvirenti
2024
The Garden State
Flashy headlines, nostalgic imagery, and romantic typography was the basis of Love Letters’ look and feel. Much of my inspiration was collected from work by Garden State Journal (Dylan Walsh), Jakeb Burgess, and Samuel Burgess-Johnson.
I continued to draw inspiration from broadsheets such as Le Labo’s Le Journal and Broadsheet Melbourne’s printed newspapers. Le Labo describes Le Journal as ‘an originalcontent broadsheet combining a nostalgia for newspaper culture with the magic of Le Labo. It’s cultural commentary’. This sense of romance verbalises exactly what I aimed to capture throughout Love Letters. Sharing a similar premise to that of Le Journal, I was drawn to Broadsheet Melbourne’s easy to read layout and abundant use of photography.
Map-making
Maps are not ‘all-knowing artefacts.’ They are narratives crafted by the intention of the map-maker — an individual who will, inevitably, bring their own decisions, agendas, and perspectives to the map-making table. The aim for my map of Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen was to reflect the suburb’s First Nations history. As said by Jim Poulter, Bolin-Bolin Billabong was a ‘living, meeting and corroboree area… particularly so in the eel-harvest season’. Additionally, after learning that the Yarra River is Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen’s eastern border, I thought it nice to think that since nature changes and evolves as time passes, so does the Yarra, and in turn, so do these borders. Even the shape of Bulleen Road has changed since work on the North East Link began. Further, the construct of lines and borders is a fairly colonial way of thinking, so I wanted my map to focus less on these rigidities.
Maps are not ‘all-knowing artefacts.’ They are narratives crafted by the intention of the map-maker — an individual who will, inevitably, bring their own decisions, agendas, and perspectives to the map-making table. The aim for my map of Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen was to reflect the suburb’s First Nations history. As said by Jim Poulter, Bolin-Bolin Billabong was a ‘living, meeting and corroboree area… particularly so in the eel-harvest season’. Additionally, after learning that the Yarra River is Bolin-Bolin/Bulleen’s eastern border, I thought it nice to think that since nature changes and evolves as time passes, so does the Yarra, and in turn, so do these borders. Even the shape of Bulleen Road has changed since work on the North East Link began. Further, the construct of lines and borders is a fairly colonial way of thinking, so I wanted my map to focus less on these rigidities.
Distribution
I also distributed Love Letters’ mini counterpart at my local Readings bookstore for fellow Manningham locals to enjoy.
I also distributed Love Letters’ mini counterpart at my local Readings bookstore for fellow Manningham locals to enjoy.