Letters to Blue

The Riverland swirls with magic — from the beds of Lake Bonney to the crowning leaves of the river’s red gums.

From the mind and pen of local writer/illustrator Kirste Vandergiessen, Letters to Blue delivered a series of letters direct to participant’s emails every day during Mental Health Week in October 2020.

Letters to Blue was supported by funding from the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia through their 2020 Mental Health Week Rural Grants program.

You can now read all of the letters right here.

Kirste Vandergiessen is a Riverland-based digital illustrator and writer. She picked up a graphics tablet in 2014, found layer settings for overlays and glowing, and never looked back. Between drawing fan art of characters she holds dear, she’s planning and writing a young adult novel about non-crystal-ball-wielding psychics. You may have seen her work in the 2019 SALA Exhibition ‘it starts with a spark~’, on the wall of Bonney Theatre for the collaborative ‘Letters to the Riverland’ projection project or on her Instagram @flamedork.

Other Part of Things projects by or with Kirste:

We Need More Dragons

Letters of the Riverland

Let’s Talk: Writing

Kirste also designed the Part of Things logo and submark.