’Forced from Home’ VR Exhibit Lets You Witness the Refugee Crisis Firsthand Eillie Anzilotti - Fast Company
go to original October 14, 2017

Come See What We See at Forced from Home (Doctors Without Borders/MSF-USA)

Inside the dome at the entrance to “Forced from Home,” an interactive exhibit created by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins San Frontièrs (MSF), an image of the arid landscape around the border between Mexico and Guatemala fills the space; above, there’s a view of the sky scattered with clouds, and along one section of the dome, a wall painted with the phrase: ¡Bienvenidos migrantes! The scene shifts to the dining room of a hostel in Ixtepec, Oaxaca in southern Mexico, where Pedro, Diana, and their three children have just arrived after fleeing violence in their home country of Honduras. As Pedro and Diana alternate telling their story, the 360-degree view captures scenes of the hostel and the country around it, where they hope to make a new life for themselves.

Using a combination of 360-degree video and virtual reality Forced from Home immerses visitors in the journey of a refugee, from their life in their home country, through the route they travel and obstacles they face along it. The exhibit, which first opened in a handful of east coast cities last year, is re-launching for a west coast tour this fall; it’s currently in Seattle at the South Lake Union Discovery Center, and will later make its way to Portland, Oakland, and Santa Monica.

Pedro and Diana’s story is not the only one told through the 10,000 square-foot exhibit: In Forced from Home, MSF also follows refugees in Iraq, Lebanon, Tanzania, and South Sudan, all of whom have fled strife and conflict in their homes. From the 360-video screening at the beginning, the exhibit moves through a series of stations illustrated with photographs and tangible items that illustrate the refugee experience; some MSF equipment is displayed alongside items like passports. The exhibit ends with a series of VR experiences that capture a through-their-eyes look at the scenes visitors have just been learning about.

Alongside the medical work that MSF does, there is, Cone says, “an organizational commitment to bear witness to the conditions of our patients.” And the plight of refugees is a large focus of the organization: “Doctors Without Borders is a medical humanitarian organization, working mainly in conflict zones or post-conflict areas,” Jason Cone, executive director of MSF USA, tells Fast Company. “The vast majority of the patients we serve have been forcibly displaced.”

Read the rest at Fast Company

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!