For us, VR is the first time in history the viewer is placed inside the artistic medium. No longer are we outsiders 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 Soul Paint 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.

Body-mapping was originally developed as an arts-therapy technique to convey the lived experience of women with HIV in South Africa. It involves tracing the form of an individual’s body and filling in the outline with images and text that portray an individual’s unique journey including social, emotional, somatic, and sensory experiences. Early studies showed the potential of body-mapping as a means of exploring one’s own emotions and identity as well as the lived experience of others, thereby reducing stigma, and improving health literacy (MacGregor, 2008; Solomon, 2002). Body-mapping has since been further developed and used as a method in research, clinical and non-clinical settings to visualize and externalize ordinarily subjective and internal experiences (Boydell, K (Ed.), 2020; de Jager et al. 2016).

Soul paint combines traditional body-mapping with the immersive 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 Soulpaint 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 Sou lpaint in healthcare contexts. 

Outside of the healthcare contexts, we are also interested in studying how Soulpaint 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

References: 

Boydell, K. (Ed.). (2020). Applying body mapping in research: An arts-based method. Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429340260

MacGregor, H. N. (2008). Mapping the body: Tracing the personal and the political dimensions of HIV/AIDS in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Anthropology & Medicine, 16(1), 85–95.https://doi.org/10.1080/13648470802426326

Solomon, Jane (2002). "Living with X": A body mapping journey in time of HIV and

AIDS. Facilitator's Guide. Psychosocial Wellbeing Series. Johannesburg: REPSSI.

As part of StoryFutures Connect XR programme, ran by StoryFutures and Royal Holloway University, we worked in collaboration with social prescribers, healthcare specialists, librarians, XR and healthcare researchers and the public, we ran two pilots at Maidenhead Library and South Devon College over two weeks to explore Soul Paint's feasibility to improve public wellbeing in community settings.

In the 131 people sampled, 61% felt negative or neutral before Soul Paint and 76% felt positive after the experience: a 95% increase in positive feelings.

78% of Maidenhead Library participants and 82% of South Devon College participants indicated that they would do the experience again. Results strongly suggest that participants saw Soul Paint as a useful tool for checking in with emotional and physical wellbeing with which they would like to periodically re-engage. These findings have informed our next plans for Soul Paint to expand into an experience that can be accessed at home, as well as in educational and wellbeing settings.

In response to the research, the ConnectXR Toolkit developed by StoryFutures and the Department of Health Studies Royal Holloway, University of London in a ground-breaking Research & Development (R&D) collaboration with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, explores the role that next generation technologies can play in enhancing people’s lives. A full report and toolkit was developed, creating a pathway for distribution for XR for wellbeing in community settings. Access the ConnectXR toolkit and recording of the report launch.

Access the full report, which can be cited as:

Whittaker, L., Palombi, A., Peres, N., Bergin, A.G., Pearton, J., Kilkelly, F., and Bryant, K. (2024) ConnectXR: A toolkit for new innovation pathways for immersive in health and community organisations. Egham, UK: StoryFutures, Royal Holloway, University of London.