CONCEPT TASK 1(a): PERSONAL STORY

What the ENVELOPE reminded me of:

I remember in year 10, I was offered a place in the student exchange program with our sister school in Japan. Being 15 years old, I was the youngest person to have gone so far. My time there was very difficult and I became very homesick. Using my creativity to keep me from going crazy, I would spend long hours in my room, creating beautiful, hand written letters for all my family and friends back home. I would include diagrams of my host family's house and detailed descriptions of each member who's sometimes tedious and annoying natures I would rant about.

These letters would be covered in illustrations of the many new things I was experiencing, like foods such as raw beef and squid meat, and the numerous festivals that took place throughout the year. Decorations filled any free space on the paper, as my boredom forced me to make the most of any moments i could spend writing and drawing. This spilled over to the blue envelopes I was supplied with, making it impossible to read any address or official information. All over the front and back my illustrations and ramblings spewed, using the striped air mail design as something I could make pictures out of. The paper was so thin and flimsy, barely able to withstand pressure all my ink and pencil lead put upon it. I would amass a large wad of these letters - and in some cases miniature booklets, and then mail them out in one big parcel as their addresses were illegible. I would include an instruction manual of how to open each one and who they were for. It was a time of stewing in my own mind and making the best of my circumstances. Not entirely positive or negative.