Hi! My name is Nina Tostevin. I live in Ottawa and I made this zine about a beloved house there – 170 Pretoria Ave.
I made the zine as an “Ode to Pretoria”- I wanted to highlight the importance of community and space. Pretoria was very special because it provided us with the opportunity to build and define our community. Many of the photos used to collage were taken during house shows, Princess birthday parties, summer family dinners, and the good old fashioned unplanned gatherings. It was hard to narrow down which photos to use because we collectively have so many.
Since Pretoria is loved by so many people, I thought it was only right to incorporate the thoughts of those who felt a connection to Pretoria. I sent out a little questionnaire with 4 questions: “What is your favourite room in Pretoria?”, “What feeling do you connect with Pretoria?”, “If you had to write a short love note to Pretoria how would it go?”, and “What does Pretoria represent to you? Is it a symbol of anything for you?”. The responses to these questions helped me form what was said in the zine; it was an amalgamation of everyones words. It also wasn’t just people from Ottawa who contributed, we had our friends in Brantford as well.
The sad ending of Pretoria is that it is going to be knocked down in order to build condos in its lot; my friends living there got renovicted (evicted due to a renovation). The community that was created within Pretoria still exists, and now when we think of Pretoria we are reminded of community, friendship, and joy!
I hope you like the zine. Thanks for checking it out!
– Nina Tostevin
