unfoldalongsideher. Shiftingfrom the trees, we are subse-
quentlysubmergedin a stream;as Hushahudescribesthe feeling
of drowning,we too see the water rippling above us, evoking
the feelingof suffocation.
The forest as other way of knowing
Movinginto the secondpart ofAwavena, a six-minuteinter-
activeexperience,I am equippedwith a large headsetand
handheldcontrollers,and find myselfimmersedin a living
forest.The imageis composedof thousandsof light points
capturedthroughthe aforementionedforest scans,as well
as multipleversionsof the blue morphobutterfly– an integral
part of Hushahu’svisions.The headsetcontainsa microphone
that can detecthumanbreath;when blowninto, it causes
the particlesformingthe trees to shift and reshape.Similarly,
when I move my hands,the forest shifts momentarilybefore
reconstitutingitself. This spacetranscendsstory and language,
engenderinga participatoryexperiencewith nature.
Renderingthe world throughthese technologiesthat draw
on authenticdata yet representit in unfamiliarways empha-
sises the existenceof other ways of seeingand knowing.By
allowingthe audienceto physically‘engage’with the materiality
of the forest,Awavenainterrogatesdocumentary’slong-held
historicalconnectionto realismand truth throughthe indexical
image.While Nash questionshow embodiedinteractionmight
impactdocumentary’struth claims,^13 we might also question
what these emergenttechnologiescan do withinembodied
spacesthat engagewith other representationsof the phe-
nomenologicalworld.That is to say, engagingin alternative
and embodiedways of recordingknowledgecan challenge
documentary’srelianceon the representationalvalue of words
spokenas either narrationor interviewsto conveytruths.
After leavingAwavena, I am given a cup of lemongrassand
gingertea, and requestedto leave a messagein a book that
Hushahuwill read. I am also given a card with a messagefrom
Hushahu,whichconcludeswith: ‘I am meetingyou insideyour
thinking,insideof your being,insideyour own perceptionof
reality.So go back home and don’t forget this encounter.’
WhileDidYouAsktheRiver?andAwavenaprovidevery
differentencounterswith nature,both explorethe potential
for technologyto implicatethe viewerwithinthe environment.
In the case of Ross’ work, the destructiveaspectsof human
behaviourand greed are foregroundedas part of a critiqueof
the ongoingeffectsof colonialism;in Wallworth’sAwavena,
VR is used as a visionarytool to reimaginecomponentsand
inhabitants of the environment. Through exploring how VR
can simulatespacesthat go beyonddocumentary’straditional
meansof representation– which positionsthe vieweras sepa-
rate from the portrayedlandscape– we can subvertour anthro-
pocentricperspectiveand ultimatelyreconsider, and repair,
our relationship with the natural world.Kim Munrois a writer,filmmakerand academicbasedin Mel-
bourne.Her interestsinvolveall thingsdocumentary,and she
has just completeda PhD around the role of listening in expan
ded documentary practices. mEndnotes(^1) Nick Buckley,‘ACMIIs Closingfor a $40 MillionUpdate’,
Broadsheet, 18 April 2019,https://www.broadsheet.com.
au/melbourne/entertainment/article/acmi-closing-40-million
-update, accessed25 May 2019.
(^2) JoanRoss,in ‘JoanRossTalksDidYouAsktheRiver?’,
YouTube,12 March2019,https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=lwuM4eUqKAs, accessed26 May 2019.
(^3) JanetH Murray,‘Not a Film and Not an EmpathyMachine’,
Immerse, 6 October2016,https://immerse.news/not-a-film
-and-not-an-empathy-machine-48b63b0eda93, accessed
26 May 2019.
(^4) ElizabethCowie,RecordingReality,DesiringtheReal, University
of MinnesotaPress, Minneapolis & London, 2011, p. 39.
(^5) Ross,op. cit.
(^6) Kate Nash,‘VirtuallyReal: ExploringVR Documentary’,Studies
in DocumentaryFilm, vol. 12, no. 2, 2018,p. 98.
(^7) See, for example,‘ChrisMilk: How VirtualRealityCan Createthe
UltimateEmpathyMachine’,YouTube,22 April 2015,https://
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXHil1TPxvA,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXHil1TPxvA>,) accessed 26 May
2019.
(^8) ‘The Film’,Awavenaofficialwebsite,http://www.awavenavr.
com/about-the-film, accessed26 May 2019.
(^9) MandyRose,‘Technologiesof Seeingand Technologiesof
Corporeality:Currentsin NonfictionVirtualReality’,World
Records,vol. 1, 2018,https://vols.worldrecordsjournal.org/
01/11, accessed27 May 2019.
(^10) LynetteWallworth,‘Filmmaker’sStatement’,Awavenaofficial
website,http://www.awavenavr.com/about-the-film,
accessed 26 May 2019.
(^11) ibid.
(^12) Jay Ruby,‘Speakingfor, SpeakingAbout,Speakingwith, or
SpeakingAlongside:An Anthropologicaland Documentary
Dilemma’,Journalof Film and Video, vol. 44, no. 1/2, Spring–
Summer1992,p. 44.
(^13) Nash, op. cit., p. 98.
Above, L–R:A Yawanawá man uses VR goggles; a scene fromDid You Ask the River?
http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 201• 85