INTER/her: An immersive journey inside the female body - Creative Processes, Reflections and Revelations

Abstract

INTER/her: Intimate Journey inside the Female Body is an immersive installation and Virtual Reality artwork focussing on post-reproductive diseases that for women over 30 can often experience, including: endometriosis, fibroids, polyps, ovarian and other cysts, as well as more serious cervical, ovarian, uterine and endometrial cancers. The project is an intimate immersive exploration of the inner world of women's bodies and the reproductive diseases they can suffer. The focus of INTER/her is on female health intended to enable personal exploration, as a conversation starter, and as a community builder. This article discusses the creative methods, design process, and tools for making the multimodal interaction used in the INTER/her artwork, exploring their nature, value, and significance within the project, and what they implicate for future work and research in this area of art and design. It will discuss the making, expression and narrative elements used to represent, explore, and understand the emotional and bodily/sensorial experience designed for visitors, as well as the meaning making through metaphors used to represent different organs and ailments. It will cover the collaborative development of the team using various technologies and storytelling approaches guiding the making and communication during the 2nd lockdown of the COVID pandemic in the UK. This work was not initiated or made as a research project, but some of the outcomes have implications and potential impact on future virtual reality design and research, and hopefully policy changes for women's health.