Destructive Pasts, Hopeful Possibilities: The Simulated Environment in 'Awavena' and 'Did You Ask the River?'

Virtual reality offers significant opportunities for expansive world-building, particularly in counterpoint to cinema's adherence to the single perspective of the filmmaker. As these VR works by Lynette Wallworth and Joan Ross demonstrate, developments in technology are enabling media creators to go beyond representations rooted in realism – and to challenge our destructive relationship with the world beyond the screen, writes Kim Munro.

Additional keywords:
colonisation, commercialism, corporate greed, simulated space, Kate Nash, empathy, Yawanawá, Indigenous, social impact, advocacy, activism, truth, objectivity.