New York - Flea Market Find.

Whilst in New York, we went to the Flea Markets nearby the hotel, which was a new experience as I have never been to one. There was a big variety of things to buy including, clothes, DVDs, records, jewellery, antiques etc. However one thing that really appealed to me and caught my eye was handwritten letters and postcards from people more than 30 years ago. After reading some of these letters to the best of my ability (the handwriting is a little difficult to read), I was fascinated by how people, decades ago, got in contact with each other and that I am holding little pieces of history. Additionally, I have one letter that hasn't even been opened by anyone, which is truly fascinating. After all this time, this fragment of history has never been shared with anyone and that no one knows of whats inside. This sense of mystery intrigues me. I want to use these postcards and letters as a starting point and be able to link some of the literature into my work, which is something that I am going to have to look into. When compared to the exam questions, I think that the question, "timeworn" fits this starting point due to the idea of something being preserved for that long and that these little pieces of paper are in fact little pieces of history and are able to tell a story for the future. Here are some photos of the artefacts that I bought from the flea markets:

I was drawn to this letter due to the neatness of it and how well l preserved the letter has been kept over time.  Even though there is a slight rip in the envelope there are no main damages to the letter, which I find fascinating due to the fact that this has been kept safe for over 70 years; something that you don't normally see. I want to create responses to this letter and to start off with, I am going to have to research and locate an artist who's work I find interesting and manages to incorporate text into their work. 

The main phrase that I am going to pick out from this letter and incorporate into my work is this phrase, "lovely letter". I like the alliteration used and it also represents how the letter has been kept intact. I will also eventually use other words that I find interesting, in particular, "Brooklyn". Brooklyn is significant to me as I visited this area of New York when I visited and provided me with a variety of photos, which may be another aspect that I could incorporate into my work.

This letter in particular interested me solely for the fact that it is unopened. My interest is peaked when I think of the letter as a time capsule of information and personal stories. The mystery of the unknown is something that I could possibly bring into my work however I am more interested in the idea of preserving information for the future; a time capsule of sorts. I could potentially make my final outcome one that is interactive, allowing the audience to participate and write letters and/or notes that will be placed into a time capsule?