A Town Called Familiar

Devon Fisher

Area: Digital Art

Thesis Statement

As a child, I tried to find ways to make the world around me something fantastical. The world that some witness as children can be confusing and overwhelming, and in response, we find ways to deal with the world in front of us.

Growing up, I consistently felt mystified by the scale of the world and the things I didn’t understand. This led to an intense interest in fringe journalism and a deep dive into Ufology and conspiracy theories, which, while not having much concrete evidence overall, gave my childhood a concrete “weirdness” with which to connect.

In "A Town Called Familiar", you play as a child in their hometown. Inspired by modern folklore and cryptozoology (the likes of bigfoot, mothman, etc.) and outsider science, the work focuses on portraying the world through the lens of a local child experiencing a change in the only town they’ve ever known. A factory has opened nearby, claiming most of the field and woods where the kids played. The work depicts a critical approach to modern America and the dangers of capitalism in our culture. These topics culminate in a virtual reality environment and installation that straddles the line between magical projections of imagination and the difficult reality the townsfolk and the environment's subject face in their constantly changing home.