For us, VR is the first time in history the viewer is placed inside the artistic medium. No longer are weoutsiders merely looking in. There are no more edges of the stage, picture frames or 16:9 ratios. We now actually exist in this world and even more importantly,we are embodied and have agency in it. This is a monumental development.

We use the language of art to understand what happens in our bodies and in our minds. Our own human experience is so ephemeral, and our language often limits our ability to express the nuance and depth of experience that often feels impossible to make sense of. The moment we get to understand how we feel in the moment, we are already thrust into something new. How can we communicate experiences to others when sometimes words are not enough? How do we frame what is already there, hidden within?

In this way, all forms of art are mirrors, a way of preserving emotional experiences that are otherwise ephemeral and transient. With Soulpaint we are creating a new form of mirror we invite in audiences to explore their experiences with through body, through their body, to discover and reveal a hidden landscape making them tangible enough to see ourselves in, or share with others.

Soul Paint combines the traditional arts-therapy technique of body-mapping with the immersive and embodied power of virtual reality to:

Explore and gain awareness of how our feelings and experiences manifest in our body

Reflect on and possibly transform how we view and experience certain feelings

Express and communicate feelings in an embodied and creative way

Foster empathy and social connectedness through witnessing the lived experience of others

Over the past few years, extensive research has been done with Soul Paint at festivals, arts centres, schools, care institutions, and libraries with hundreds of participants with various ages and backgrounds including healthcare practitioners.

Research so far has primarily focused on gathering first impressions and user experience feedback as well as exploring different ways and contexts in which Soul Paint could have a meaningful impact.

Various potential therapeutic uses have been explored including the support of people with chronic pain, eating disorders, trauma, and various other physical and mental challenges.

Several potential benefits of Soul Paint have been identified including:

• Strengthening interoceptive awareness

• Improving communication and alliance between patients and practitioners

• Monitoring treatment progress, and facilitating goal setting.

• In addition, various care pathways have been explored including social prescribing.

We will continue to expand on this research determining the value, efficacy, as well as the health economics involved in using Soul Paint in healthcare contexts.

Outside of the healthcare contexts, we are also interested in studying how Soul Paint can answer more fundamental questions about (cross-cultural differences in) the human experience and the mind-body connection including themes of: emotional awareness and expression, embodiment, and social connectedness.

List of research and healthcare partners:

• Story Futures Academy

• Royal Holloway University of London

• Arts and Humanities Research Council

• Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Group - University College London

• Mental Health Neuroscience lab - University of Cambridge

• HKU University of the Arts Utrecht

• Torbay and South Devon NHS foundation

• University of Nottingham

• York St John University

• King’s College London