When Semi Ryu performed Parting on Z—her work about a farewell between symbolic lovers: user and avatar—in London in 2013, something unexpected happened. She found herself sobbing in the middle of it.
That’s when, she says, she found her Han—a Korean concept where one feels extreme grief coupled with great hope.
Ryu, an associate professor of Kinetic Imaging, wondered if this same experience could be replicated in others. She worked with Tracey Gendron from VCU’s Department of Gerontology to develop VoicingElder, which used avatars and lip sync technology to help residents in an assisted living facility listen to their own stories. Ryu saw the practice as a way to improve quality of life and connect through storytelling.
“They enjoyed talking, but it was also community theater,” she says. “Everybody shared their stories together. And sometimes they just wanted to be an audience and watch somebody else talking.”
Lately, Ryu has been testing a new hypothesis: Can personal storytelling and virtual reality help terminally ill patients manage their pain and construct meaning for their lives?
Profile originally appeared on the VCUarts website.