> XR Healing Project
In development from March 2025
A long-term artwork and practice-based research that aims to create a dual focus, practice-based artistic research and interactive, generative artwork using XR storytelling and performative installations to provide “healing” experiences for visitors, focused on reproductive health and menopause. Its outcomes involve both a medical anthropology database and a website of indigenous and traditional remedies and treatments for women’s health conditions, administered by women healers.
Image source: ABC News 2018 on ‘psychedelic feminism’. Image credit: Cosmic Sister: Tracey Eller
> Timeline
As soon as funding is acquired – 3-5 years
> Collaborators
- Caroline Ackley – Medical Anthropologist
- more to come
- Name 3 – Roles
> Abstract
Female Healers, Witches & Shamans for Women’s Health aims to create a dual focus, practice-based artistic research and interactive, generative artwork using XR storytelling and performative installations to provide “healing” experiences for visitors, focused on reproductive health and menopause. Its outcomes involve both a medical anthropology database and a website of indigenous and traditional remedies and treatments for women’s health conditions, administered by women healers.
The artistic and medical anthropology research component will involve collecting traditional healing practices and treatments from around the world through fieldwork, consultations, and desk research, compiling them into a comprehensive database as well as the collection of the visually situated environments.
The healing experience will be algorithmically generated based on a database of folk remedies, delivering an ethical, personalised treatment simulation with clear warnings that it does not replace modern medical care (e.g., NHS). The installation will feature projections, and/ or be experiences within mixed reality headsets, and/or live actors recreating authentic healing environments. It may be necessary to work with Indigenous artists in each location to ensure not to appropriate for each culture but have them as representative collaborators.
Drawing on the practices of female shamans, healers, and “witches” from various cultures and historical periods, visitors will engage with a healer (represented by either an actor, mixed reality (MR) elements or video recordings of real healers) in a culturally appropriate setting where these healings might traditionally occur, subject to consent and ethical guidelines.
Visuals of healing environments and likenesses of healers will be captured through video, photos, photogrammetry, LiDAR 3D scanning, drone footage, and multimedia recordings. Collaboration with medical anthropologists in the UK and other global connections (Canada, Europe, the Americas, and India) will support the cultural sensitivity and academic rigour of the project.
This project is necessary to make these cross-cultural and historically ignored treatments and healers and their wisdom more accessible and engaging and to preserve ancient knowledge to use in tandem with modern medicine. It has the potential to contribute significantly to both academic research and public health education.
This project aims to address these historical shortcomings by preserving and documenting these cultural practices while fostering a dialogue between traditional and contemporary healing methods[Ciofalo, 2017][Struthers, 2003]. By utilising advanced technologies and an interdisciplinary approach, it seeks to empower women with knowledge about their bodies and health options across cultures and time periods[Schiebinger, 2004][Mies and Shiva, 2014]. The combination of anthropological research, and artistic presentation through emerging technology, offers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between traditional wisdom and modern science, potentially leading to new insights in women’s healthcare and a more comprehensive understanding of women’s health issues throughout history and across cultures[McClain, 1989][Jakobsen, 1999].
> Slidedeck
> Partners
- Partner 1
- Partner 2
- Partner 3
> Budget / Funding
- £0,000 / Source, Date (Purpose)
- £0,000 / Source, Date (Purpose)
> Outcomes / Impact
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