Making New Stories.

I seem to be having trouble uploading the text that go with these images.  Anyway, below is a copy of that text.  

“Six months have passed since l had the stroke, six months of adjusting to this newly reconfigured person that is me.  In one sense the Paul before the stroke has gone, exiled to a place that is out reach, in his place, a new Paul is emerging.

From Paul

MAKING NEW STORIES.

Six months have passed since l had my stroke, that’s six months of adjusting to the newly reconfigured person that is me. In one sense the pre-stroke Paul has gone, exiled to a place that is out of reach, in his place a new Paul is emerging.

Aside from the physical effects on my body, the stroke simultaneously disrupted the narrative of my life. I, as storyteller, had lost the threads, the story was broken and the previous storyline of my life had reached an abrupt conclusion. What was l to do, l could not pick up those lost threads, the connections were severed? It became obvious, l had to start making new stories and those stories had to arise from my lived experience.

One of the consequences of my stroke is that l had to relearn the meaning of things, the values associated with my emotions and bodily sensations. I had to make a fresh start, but l was lucky because l had at my disposal the perfect means to help make sense of the world that surrounded me. I am an artist and it was my art practice that provided me with the means to reach an understanding of my given state of being.

My previous blog entry presented a body of digital artworks, that are collectively titled “Sensations”. These artworks encapsulated my experience of understanding my emotions. In their creation l was able to navigate my way through this relearning experience, documenting what l was feeling and how to make sense of those feelings. In total 30 images were created and a photo book, titled Sensations, was produced.

Art is never made in a vacuum, it always sits in context with other artworks, things or events. With this in mind, “Sensations” provided a starting point for a new body of artwork and a whole new learning opportunity, titled “My Garden of Unearthly Delights”. This new body of takes the form of a journey into the realm of virtual reality.

What better way is there of creating new life experiences and new stories than learning a new set of knowledge and skills? I have always been a bit of an autodidact (a self-taught person), l simply have had a life-long love of learning. So, about six weeks ago l acquired the necessary technology (Oculus Quest 2) and embarked upon my journey into virtual reality (VR). Jumping into the deep end, l set about learning how to craft VR environments, using various design apps. With many long hours of labour, that were punctuated with moments of pure joy, I can’t tell you how complex and exciting this journey has been.

It almost goes without saying, unless there is some form of application learning new skills can seem rather pointless. I quickly saw how VR could be successfully grafted into my existing art practice. “Sensations” became the foundational source material for the new body of work, “My Garden of Unearthly Delights”. To put it simply, the new works are a series of environments or types of art installations, that exist solely within virtual reality. With the right equipment and data files, anyone can wander through these virtual environments/installations. I plan to eventually (hopefully in the latter part of this year), open up a virtual gallery in the Metaverse, making it accessible to a global audience. Ideally, this virtual gallery space will house “My Garden of Unearthly Delights” and any future art projects that may arise.

My post- stroke digital/VR art making is all one continuous learning curve, an embodied form of ongoing reinvention. I seriously doubt if l would have into the world of virtual reality had l not had the stroke. This may sound strange, but with hindsight, l have come to understand the stroke as a type of learning opportunity. The overwhelming nature of the stroke imposed upon me a state where nothing else but 100% honesty and acceptance of reality could exist. There was no room for self-deception or wasting of time, my previous world had come tumbling down and my sense of self had been shattered into pieces. But out of this state of destruction a new world started to arise, simultaneously a new way of being in that world emerged. From what l have learnt and keep learning from the stoke has made me a better person. l can honestly say that l love being alive and l love the wonders this world has to offer, this is a great time and place for the making of new stories.

I will post some images from “My Garden of Unearthly Delights” in the comments section. These are ‘photos’ taken within the VR environments, they really don’t do justice to the actual environments but at least provide a sense of what they look like.