Abstract

Full Paper. Session: Futures and Heritages / Mixed media and heritage digitizing

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Immersive Experience, Women Empowerment, Sexual Assault and Violence, Embodied Experience

Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman who went missing and got tragically murdered during her walk home, sparked an international conversation about women’s safety in early 2021. It is one thing to discuss such a tragic and unfortunately common occurrence, yet it is even more harrowing to experience it for yourself.

A Walk Alone is a virtual reality experience that simulates what it feels like for women to walk alone at night. The experience is centered around a linear story involving the user in first person point-of-view navigating a night-city environment with eerie sound design, immersive visuals, and dim street lighting.

• Eman Al-Zubeidi is an educator/artist exploring the concept of identity as a fabricated construct. Through videography, graphic and interaction design, Eman merges Arab and Western cultures; two worlds that have entirely opposing sets of beliefs, traditions, and dialects, which are yet one and the same. She is Professor in the Art department at Illinois State University, USA. https://www.emanalzubeidi.com
• Julia DeLaney is a 3D artist/researcher focusing on creating 3D visuals for interactive and narrative projects. With a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Visualization from Texas A&M, USA, Julia is interested in combining live rendering techniques used in interactive media with narrative work that reflects the current state of the world.
• Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo is an interactive artist/researcher focusing on aesthetics of interactive experience. With interdisciplinary, interactive art practice, Seo investigates the intersection between body, nature and technology. She is fascinated by the aesthetic qualities of human experience, the relationships that emerge through interactions within artworks, the underlying beauty and pattern inherent in the nature.