The final outcomes exhibition for Aaliyah Shaw and Tomilola Olumide combined elements of VR and physical work.
‘The Landscape That Shapes Us,’ Shaw's illustrative project in digital media and wool-felt material invites us to connect with nature, our inner selves and emotions as humans. Shaw's illustrations portray warmth and nostalgia, with scenic depictions of self portraiture, nature, city scapes and balance. Aaliyah's needle felting work grounds us in comfort, cosiness, ease and protection as a physical depiction of her subjects in real time, while her digital illustrations in virtual reality act as escapism into fantasy realms which bring relief, as they deviate from the mundane and expectations of the real world.
Tomilola Olumide created Wa wọ, which means ‘come and see’ in Yoruba language. It was chosen as a project title to convey sarcastic and playful expressions of being overwhelmed by physical disorientation experienced during her first few sessions of navigating VR technology at the start of her residency. Wa wọ began with experimentations between the creation of free-form digital drawings in dark voids of space with the VR software Open Brush and Gravity Sketch, the creation of augmented reality 3D models of physical hand sculptures; and further productions of physical sculpture.