https://bodypix-covid-grief.glitch.me
That discomfort you’re feeling is grief. In an article that shares the same name, David Kessler talks about how naming our experience as grief begins to give us tools to talk about it. After we acknowledge the presence of grief, the next, and most critical step, is processing it.
But it’s hard to take a moment and take stock of how we’re feeling, and even more difficult to share feeling with others beyond text, video, and our own limited networks. Taking a leaf from Nina’s book, I’m hoping to create a lens for observation that opens up space for participation.
I want to create a lens on our own grief (and other pandemic feelings) as a way to begin to process them. By using browser-based body-detection, I’m hoping to open up the possibilities for observing how our bodies are doing in light of this (traumatic) new way of life, and sharing that experience (in a safe + meaningful way) .
My plan for the rest of the semester is to work on a capture system in Ml5 for processing and recording our experience pandemic through physically “performing” (in front of their webcam) how we are feeling.
Our likeness from the webcam footage is abstracted into a silhouette. By focusing on the silhouette of a body as the capture, the tool helps us focus on the shapes our bodies create, and not our specific appearance. Further, when we look at other’s responses, we can more viscerally “feel” their presence.
By developing this project for the browser, I’m hoping to open up access to as many participants as possible for participation.
These silhouettes will be aggregated and displayed back for people to appreciate everyone’s, possibly feel some solidarity.
Tools: ML5.js (bodyPix), webcam