02
A Corals Bloom
The Project
A virtual reality experience that immerses participants in the birth of a coral (Acropora millepora) through the eyes of the coral itself. You are born from a coral polyp and drift into the ocean under the moonlight during a mass spawning event. This project seeks to evoke a sense of awe and invites people to connect with this often unseen and deeply intimate natural process. By revealing the delicate beauty of coral reproduction, the project encourages a deeper appreciation and understanding of these vital marine ecosystems.
" I wanted to create a deeply intimate experience where people could empathise with a coral by living through its birth, and drifting amongst a coral reef during a mass spawning event. Instead of leading with climate anxiety, I focused on the beauty of coral reefs and the wonder of their existence."
My Role
I am collaborating with another person to complete this project. My role focused on developing the concept and narrative behind the VR experience and designing the environment. This includes making the terrain, selecting and placing assets, creating the underwater atmosphere through visual effects and particle systems, and integrating sound. My collaborator is responsible for implementing the player’s movement in VR and handling the coding and technical interactions.
The Horniman Museum
A group of students from the Royal College of Art, including myself and my project partner, were selected to develop a project in collaboration with the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London. The Horniman runs Project Coral—a groundbreaking multi-year research study on coral reproduction. Our brief was to propose a project inspired by their conservation work, aiming to spark love and care in the museums audience. Rather than focusing on climate anxiety, the project was meant to evoke warm, joyful, and hopeful emotions.
Initial Sketches
These are initial sketches of the virtual reality experience when I was planning how the coral reef was going to look like and how it would look like to be inside a coral like Acropora Millepora.
This is a sketch of a coral reef with the moonlight shining through the ocean currents and fishes swimming between a storm of egg and sperm bundles in a mass spawning event.
This is an imaginary sketch of what I thought the inside of a coral would look like from the perspective of the egg and sperm bundle about to be born from the coral.
This is a digital sketch I made in Photoshop of an egg and sperm bundle swimming in the ocean with its brothers and sisters during the mass spawning event.
Page 1/6
This project is still a work in progress, content will be added here as the project develops.