When the Drought is Over

‘When the Drought is Over’ is a suite of experiments in using Augmented Reality to explore a moment of being on the brink of change, in response to drought in regional NSW. I wanted to explore how opportunities for engagement with slow-moving environmental anxieties could be created through interactivity, and how handmade and digital materiality could compliment each other as storytelling tools. I saw an opportunity to combine these two interests to create a storybook about moments of tension between old and new in a recent moment of severe drought in my hometown of Tamworth, NSW.

Inspired by stories told by my friends and family about how they adapted and changed to meet this time in 2019, when the area’s water supply very nearly ran out, I extracted small moments from stories they sent to me as voice notes to delve into using layered materiality.

By engaging with each story using a material that best suited its content, I was able to develop different ways of viewing the AR as a storytelling tool - both as a metaphor for revealing hidden tensions, and as a tool to enhance the user experience design elements of a printed book. Thereby through using interactivity to delve into small-scale experiences, the final printed book aims to make stories of anxiety and tension more accessible and easier to engage with, both for regional and non-regional audiences.

Explore the process of making this project below!