Editorial pieces for an article with the Spinoff on the recovery of education post Covid-19.
Shun, a Japanese student experiences the cross-cultural journey of attending part of their school in New Zealand.
As international student numbers inch back to pre-pandemic norms, what do those learners gain from coming to Aotearoa?
The concept for the hero image was a big interest for me in the article—an observation of our protagonists on New Zealand and Japanese cultural similarities. This interests me deeply. I really wanted to push for this image with the client; who rightly so, had concerns with cultural appropriation, which I hope I navigated fairly well.
Image 1 and 2 came quite naturally, as the client requested these and I really like those ideas; however, I was stuck for the last image as I felt I didn't want to create 4 random images associated to the text. It took a few days to find a pattern, as there was a small narrative that were intertwining within the text—Shun, travelling to New Zealand and experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity for not a long amount of time and then returning. A hero's journey, if you will. Though, the images don't play out in series, the feeling of a beginning and end is clear.
