ARTIST STATEMENT

A Trip Beyond Reality examines how altered perception, experienced through LSD, created distance from childhood trauma and habitual ways of seeing. The work unfolds through layered imagery and a third-person narrative voice that guides the viewer—positioned in first person—through an unstable psychological landscape. At the center of the experience is Pookie, a recurring figure who functions as a grounding presence and guide through the intensity of the trip. Through storytelling, fragmentation, and shifts in perspective, the work explores how disorientation can open space for reflection rather than retraumatization. The project remains in progress, shaped through experimentation and intuitive decision-making.

PROCESS & TECHNICAL APPROACH

The project was developed through a multi-stage workflow that blends virtual environments, AI-based image generation, and time-based media. Initial spaces were constructed in Maya and OpenBrush, including both a familiar bedroom environment and a destabilized, immersive landscape. These environments were experienced and recorded in first person using a VR headset, establishing the primary visual perspective of the work. Selected frames from each scene were then processed through AI image-generation systems, using narrative-driven prompts developed through language modeling to reinterpret the spaces rather than replicate them. The resulting imagery was further transformed through neural style transfer and re-integrated into motion using video synthesis tools. Final sequences were edited and layered to heighten perceptual shifts and psychedelic visual effects, allowing the work to oscillate between constructed reality, distortion, and reinterpretation.