Who is Nature? VR visions from Indigenous Latin America and Australia
Academic
Adrian Hearn
School of Languages and Linguistics
Intern
Thomas Keep
School of Historical and Philosophical Studies
Project description
This interactive 360 film explores the meaning of nature for Indigenous communities in Mexico, Cuba, and Australia. Viewers visit a Mayan sacred cenote lake and reserve in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, a medicinal forest in Havana, and the landscape of Western Australia as it is sculpted by the Aboriginal Dreamtime serpent Beemarra. Interactive buttons within these scenes trigger interviews with elders and specialists, alongside texts to illuminate their histories and cultures. Asked what nature means to them, their responses reveal an illuminating vision: nature is not a “what” but a “who”: not a resource for extraction but a living entity for interaction. To experience the film please visit the Who is Nature project web page.
Want to get involved with the Digital Studio internship program? We welcome applications from research students to undertake the internship, and from academics and external organisations interested in hosting an internship and supervising an intern.