Almost Reality: A Virtual Travel series (exhibited at the Haunted Landscapes conference 2023)

This work emerged as a response to my current research: drawing from virtual travel. The Google Street View digital reality, as a phenomenon, acts as a replica, a digital representation of physical space. It is an ‘almost’ reality. It feels distinct from photographs or video because we are given the freedom to wander and roam the digital landscape. Drawing from this type of media lends itself to feelings of regret or longing because it so closely mimics real life. Still, it is distinctly other. There are blurred signs and faces, there are places you cannot explore, and the 3D world is frozen in Springtime. Unlike drawing on location, the world is static, and flat. It is not a true mirror of our world, yet I am continually drawn to making work from this virtual reality, this vast library of picture-making possibilities.
My hope is by including elements of the screen in my drawings I also reveal something of the reality of the experience of virtual travel, and the strange, uncanny, altered spaces it exhibits.
These illustrations are inspired by locations in Venice, Tokyo, Minnesota, Seoul, Chefchaoen, and Bangkok.

Giclee digital prints. Original artwork: mixed media; gouache, ink, pencil, and pastel on paper.

Exhibited as part of a group exhibition (Place, Memory, and Alarm) at the Haunted Landscapes conference 2023.

• https://darkeconomies.co.uk/haunted-land...