‘Five Finger Discount’ is a new series of graphic stories about growing up in inner city Brisbane in the 1980s. In it we follow the trials and tribulations of partners in crime Anton and Frank as they move from one caper to the next upsetting teachers and parents. The story deals with themes such as masculinity, protest, education and sexuality.
I have also produced a graphic novel called ‘Goomiland’, a semi-fictional family history about my family’s experiences in Australia during World War Two.
‘Goomiland’ consists of a parallel universe of hybrid creatures that you also see in the exhibition works that I make. These creatures stand in for the conflicting forces of history, and personify the Italian-Australian experience of migration. The name ‘Goomiland’ is a term from primary school that referred to some vacant land next to the school inhabited by homeless people, or ‘Goomies.’ It is a parallel world that you are not allowed to enter unless you are different in some way.
‘Goomiland’ is my way of emotionally connecting with the difficult parts of the émigré experience of my family. Part two has now been released and narrates the wartime experiences of my grandfather up to the beginning of 1942 where Japan’s southward military expansion threatens Australia.
Anton Pulvirenti 