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The omnipresence of digital media and its networked foundations profoundly guide the ways in which culture materialises. Digital technologies participate in the making of culture. It is for this reason that I find great importance in exploring digital media.

A project I have been working on since my degree is titled ‘The Island of Non-performativity’. It is a virtual environment where non-performativity and counter-performance exists. The island is inhabited by ‘counter-performative’ characters visually inspired by marine and extra-terrestrial beings and forms. It consists (so far) of five different environments: ‘Beach’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Forest’, ‘Womb Pod’ and ‘The Cave’. These have all been built on the 3D computer graphics software Blender.

Blender is a free ‘open-source 3D creation suite’. The software allows for 3D digital computer graphics creation through modelling, rigging and animation. To progress and build up the skills needed for Blender in order recreate my concept designs digitally, I have had to learn from scratch. I have found the best way for me to do this is through watching YouTube tutorials of experienced users creating similar objects, textures, and rigging. YouTube has been the most used learning platform to develop my knowledge and understanding of navigating the tools needed to carry out my ongoing practice. The range of guidance and equipment available at Manchester Metropolitan University/School of Digital Arts (SODA) would greatly accelerate the quality of skills I have gained through watching Youtube tutorials. Meaning, I could create wider variety and better quality 3D digital sculptures to be incorporated into a gaming context.

‘The Island of Non-performativity’ is a digital archive I utilise to explore, expand, and experiment on my own ideas of what a world would look and be like if conventional, social performance didn’t exist. My aim for this project is to develop it into a simulation environment for users to explore and experience what would otherwise - in reality - be paradoxical. The main incentive for creating this work is to explore the relationship and boundaries between the 'real' and 'virtual' by exploring the capability of the virtual world by pushing the limits of paradoxical concepts that virtual worlds can hold.

My ongoing creative practice since completing a BA Hons Fine Art course at UAL Central Saint Martins, continues to be a therapeutic and comforting practice during a time where escapism and the exploration of unknown characters and environments have been majorly limited to the virtual, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

I have chosen Manchester Metropolitan University’s MA Games Art course to engage with the expanding world of digital media, to collaborate and grow with likeminded creatives and because Manchester Metropolitan University can provide the support of an environment in which I will be able to challenge myself and further develop my skills within a specified Game Art context.

Manchester Metropolitan University’s range of workshops, talks, exhibits and assistance in both seeking work across the games sector and development of a professional portfolio, will strongly support and encourage a path towards my desired future career as a Game Environment Designer.

Please click on the PDF below to download my Portfolio.