Mingxuan Hao

This was part of a final project submitted to the University of Sussex as part of the requirements for the MA degree in Photography: History, Theory, Practice. The project is a surrealist camera-less photography project, shot in Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) and built using Unity to exhibit in an interactive virtual gallery. 

 

The project deconstructs RDR2 and its historical context - the American West in 1899, the end of the Westward Movement - through photography. It uses modern technology to take viewers on a journey back to the 19th century. 

 

The project not only aims to showcase the potential and capabilities of in-game photography, making people think about the impact of digitisation on photography and the impact of the virtual industry on reality, but also serves as a challenge to the unjust history of Native Americans and a satire on the glorification of aggression by the invaders of the time.