Inspired by a video made for ISAS by Andy McKay and Ronald Fowler. I wanted to encapsulate and simulate the feeling of entrapment that a survivor would’ve experienced in a metaphorical sense, and present it to a subject/ audience in the hopes that they may be able to sympathise. The idea was relatively simple. Using a headset (potentially VR), simulate the sense of entrapment by placing the wearer in a virtual hallway. This hallway represents the life of a victim/survivor of abuse. Behind each door in the hallway is something that gradually gets more scary or frightening. The aim is to make the wearer believe that there is something horrifying behind the last door, when in fact the twist is that the last “exit” door leads to a happy place of escape. This was linked to how survivors often found that looking for help, or escaping, seemed like the scariest thing to do, but it was more often than not found that there was light at the end of the hallway, metaphorically.
Screenshots of early storyboards:
Though the concept may be understandable with some explanation, I feared that in this type of practice, users may struggle to grasp the aim of the project. It would also be sensitive subject, meaning that some may be offended by the concept of the content, even if the intentions were noble. It is because of this sensitive nature of this topic and the potential obscurity of the projects intentions, that I have decided to not follow up with this concept.