In this VR experience the audience is taken on a journey from my point of view as a child residing in the city of Porto, walking in a plaza in the centre of the city and being faced with scenes of homeless children in their daily lives. These depictions are placed on glass walls that form a maze like structure in the middle of the plaza, inducing the feeling of being transported to a different location beyond the one they are currently in. The purpose of this effect is to induce in the audience the feeling that we experience when our memories take over and “transport us into the past”, effectively taking them into my memories. Since this experience is from my point of view as a five year old the height is very short, placing the audience at an angle where they feel vulnerable as children observing other children in the grandiose of the city.

The illustrations in the glass walls are created in a series of traditional Portuguese XVIII century tile style, which is not only a key cultural reference but also a reinforcement of the idea that people in homeless situations become invisible to the public, blending in with the landscape and becoming part of the architecture. While the images are comprised of scenes from different areas of the city, the overarching style, chromatic tones and particularly the frame provide visual cohesion, turning all these various parts into one single piece. 

From an interactive perspective, the audience will not only be walking but also selecting an audio option from each tile where they’ll be able to listen to me retelling my experience in relation to what is depicted the image, functioning as a form of a diary with various entries of my memories related to each particular tile.