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Originally produced in 2005 as part of my university degree portfolio, Forgotten Homecoming is an exploratory piece of interactive media incorporating archive photos, sound, video and animation.

The work is set in a landscape that is seen as both harsh and bleak, but also beautiful. The landscape has been carved and scarred by the people who lived and worked on and under it. The remains of industrial workings are scattered across the landscape and the entrances to miles of lead mines still stand. Through QuickTime VR movies and audiovisual sequences the user can explore the landscape over different mini locations and through their exploration of these environments they unearth layered elements of images and film which bleed through their current view. Elements of story and/or archive footage of that part of the landscape (or equivalent) from a previous period are mixed with personal memories and imagery of the landscape. Imagine being an archeologist scraping back the layers of the ground and uncovering different stories and memories of the landscape and the people who lived and worked there.

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One of the aims of this project was to explore different ways of presenting and making accessible archive material (in this case photographic material). The focus was on creating an emotive attachment between this material and the user by creating an imaginary space; a mix of my own personal memories and experiences of living and working in this landscape, and those of the archive photographs.

I’m currently planning on producing an updated and more complete version of this project produced as a DVD rather than aMacromedia Director authored application, with new visual material taken over the last three years, this work involves a lot more animation and graphics work.