Concept art
Uwa was an installation to exhibit inside of a MassArt gallery with a focus on creating a narrative environment through various art pieces.
This project was inspired by my research into the theology and cosmology of various religions and cultures that have inspired me as an artist throughout the years. Specifically, the Igbo people of Southern Nigeria, Haitian Voudou, and Catholicism. It also deals with themes such as collective consciousness, self vs other, and altered realities.
This would have been executed using projection, AR, video art, illustrations, and paper arts. Animated scenes of a fictitious origin myth I have created would have been projected inside of a pre-existing large cube within the space. On the outside of the cube and on the walls would be a mixture of 2D illustrative art, handmade book/paper arts, and video art to supplement the cube and build the world.
This would have been executed using projection, AR, video art, illustrations, and paper arts. Animated scenes of a fictitious origin myth I have created would have been projected inside of a pre-existing large cube within the space. On the outside of the cube and on the walls would be a mixture of 2D illustrative art, handmade book/paper arts, and video art to supplement the cube and build the world.
Because of COVID-19, the exhibit unfortunately could not be held.
Writings on my research and the general lore of the Uwa world can be found here:
Initial sketches and layout of art pieces in gallery space
Example of AR project using Cabin AR program
Cube Projection Paintings
One of the main gods descends onto Earth, and meets with the other gods already on the planet
The newborn god (named Aoft) shows it can create life out of mud, a human being is made and is thankful, more humans are made and they start to worship the gods
Aoft is shown the cruelty humans are capable of in the first war in the Uwa verse, the gods are fearful and disgusted by their creation. The Sun and Moon create a barrier between the gods and humans forever after removing all humans who remembered the gods.
[Image still a work in progress]
Animated wall, to play on loop in gallery
Monoprint Animations
Initial monoprints
Monoprint edited in Photoshop to be used in animation
A theme of this exhibit was imagining the digital world as a transformative, spiritual world. Mixing my prints with digital video was a way to express this.
Readjustments During COVID
Because I could not be on campus to finish my project, I tried to see if I could bring everything to life online. In the visual programming software MAX MSP, an interactive skybox was created, and I started working on a website.
The scene takes place in a skybox using the wall painting that initially was going to be projected inside the gallery cube. The figure in the middle is a spirit of nature, and is standing in water as it gazes upon a horseshoe crab; a sacred animal in the world of Uwa.
Walkthrough of website so far
Accompanying Art
Different spirits
One of the books created
Handmade paper
A projector box was made to display some of these videos as well
