Virtual reality storyteller creates project showcasing historically Black community in Seattle
... Inside her VR experience, users wandered the Central District’s main streets, visiting recreated facades of vanished sites such as the long-time jazz hot spot the Black and Tan Club, as well as present-day Edwin Pratt Park, named for a local civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1969. The VR weaves together digital illustrations, historic photos and recent video interviews, with a narrator providing details. ...
Barton began the project seven years ago while working on a UW master’s degree in communications in digital media. The idea for it was sparked by her concerns about how rapidly the area was gentrifying — or “paving over,” as Barton describes it. ...
The VR experience highlights superstar artists such as jazz legend Ernestine Anderson; rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot; multiple Grammy winner Quincy Jones; and, of course, guitar virtuoso Hendrix. It also features present-day interviews with mixed-media artist Melvin Freeman, also known as the Fly Blind Guy; a venture promoting Black-owned entrepreneurs called Black Dot; and Delbert Richardson, founder of the American History Traveling Museum. ...
See the full story here: https://www.geekwire.com/2023/vr-visionary-shares-storytelling-project-showcasing-historically-black-community-in-seattle/
