The kaleidoscope of fashion and digital media continues to be manipulated. New technologies have helped shift the limelight to include multi-lateral explorations, and one of the curators helping to do this is Ruvan Wijesooriya.
The New York-based photographer has shot for the likes of Roberto Cavalli, Monki and Burberry, had his work featured in shows like “Gossip Girl,” received acclaimed national and international exhibition praise, and the “pretty chilled out guy” has marked a new first with his project, ‘Unstitched’.
‘Unstitched’ was birthed out of a conversation with David Mullett, founder and producer of the virtual reality content agency, Virtualize. Mullett knew an editor from The Endless Collective and pitched an idea to Wijesooriya about a fashion shoot that was presented in 3D.
“When David approached me about this concept I was immediately attracted to the idea and I’m not about working for an industry, I am working to sell creative ideas, products and imagery, so this felt like a good fit,” he explains.
While they were doing the shoot, which was for Icelandic Glamour magazine, the team was also creating a virtual reality film. This opportunity allowed Wijesooriya to exercise his interest of “managing between true creativity by spending time working for yourself on ideas and then at the same time working with other people, and finding that balance.”
Wijesooriya didn’t set out to work in fashion, rather, his process to creating innovative projects led him from his first skateboard shop out of his garage in the ‘90s, to working alongside a career-defining stylist in rock music, to journalism, to the world of photography. This journey made for many curves and bends that kept creative doors opening and his eagerness to embrace new mediums and new aesthetics kept the forward motion in check.
“When you look at all my projects they are all guided by subjects and my career has allowed me to work with people that have embraced this, embraced my interest in doing things totally different, things that are completely off the map,” explains Wijesooriya.
Virtual reality is not a new concept, but the adoption of it has steadily become more embraced in the fashion world. Balenciaga used a 360-degree platform in its recent Paris Fashion Week show, offering those off the runway a chance to see the live event take place with the use of their app.
This past fall, Tommy Hilfiger incorporated virtual headsets into specific stores around the globe, showcasing its runway collection to shoppers. And, the house of Dior used VR to highlight the behind-the-scenes madness for its fall 2015 runway show. Dior furthered its move in stores with the introduction of Dior Eyes.
Also, Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard) and Samsung (Gear VR) are among the big corporations that have forked out a lot of money to secure their rights to the virtual reality space.
However, the new media technology still has its critics with one New York writer explaining how putting on the headset gave her “mild anxiety about not being on my phone and missing work emails,” furthering it would be an obstacle for future projects.
Yet this is one of the backbones of virtual reality: to rid oneself from distractions and instead focus on the senses that explode while engulfed in a different reality. Presumably, not everyone is ready to fully turn off though.
As Wijesooriya notes, “Part of what I do in my projects is to look at things in a different way so when something like virtual reality comes along and presents itself to me it’s about pushing that envelope and messing with things. To me, it’s also about audience participation and sharing the experience and energy in both analogue and digital worlds. This video is the first exploration into that realm.”
Soon it was time to take the plunge and truly see how Ruvan messes with things in ‘Unstitched’. Equipped with a Google Cardboard over my eyes, the jarring camera speed and music was instantly overwhelming in a “what’s going on” kind of way. Soon, models were staggering beside me, darting and disappearing, and I was trying to find where to look because there was so much going on I wanted to take it all in. I had to watch multiple times and each time I’d see new colours, new expressions, clothing, props; definitely a massive step up from my childhood viewfinder. I was quickly catapulted into an Until Dawn scene with Requiem For A Dream debauchery, and I loved it. It was a sweet sensory indulgence.
‘Unstitched’ recently previewed at SXSW where guests were exposed in a similar fashion, hallmarking this independent production feat.
“I think doing something independent offers a new way to innovate,” states Wijesooriya. “There are a lot of special effects that we did with ‘Unstitched’ and had we’d been partnered with big companies they might have said ‘oh we don’t feel comfortable with you moving the camera that way’, or how the opening shot is the camera coming back up from the floor quickly because someone viewing it may throw up.”
With that very problem (nausea) in mind, Wijesooriya spent a lot of time researching the risks that could be associated while viewing a shoot in VR.
“I read up and spent a lot of time looking at those “Brain Game” shows to figure out what would acclimate the brain to what was going on and how it wouldn’t freak out with such sporadic movements,” he notes.
You get a sense of the speed at which Wijesooriya’s mind conceptualizes; this man is anything but a linear thinker. In Yearbook Afghanistan he snapped 250 photos of children from warfare in about two and half hours.
The purpose was to show the nuances and hope still swooning within the faces, but also to “see Afghanistan and these children in a different scope.” This practice of re-envisioning subjects can be applied to the way we view ‘Unstitched’.
His #LoveTunnelNYC is another example of making art a nostalgic memento and since “counterculture has always fascinated [him]” you can begin to understand the multi-dimensional lens to which Ruvan employs his creativity through.
“I think any creative person can tell you that when they’re working for themselves there’s one part of their brain they’re using and when they’re working for others they’re using different parts of their brain,” says Wijesooriya.
“I work more towards ideas and larger goals and how individuals solve their problems,” he furthers. “I enjoy helping others visualize what they want and I’m not interested in working for companies or for people who already know what they want.”
Wijesooriya points to Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy and the suspended art from Alexander Calder as two inspiring talents that truly explore different aesthetics.
The creative maverick has made a career out of capturing moments and is looking to create “better experiences online, through social media…through digital media.” When it comes to VR, he wants to be playful and “to make stuff that f**** with what people think it means or can do.”
Make sure to check out ‘Unstitched’ and Ruvan’s other projects here.
On photography:
“I think when it comes to portraits it’s very much about the trust in the photographers. It means more to me to represent someone for their self, so a portrait for their Facebook profile picture or a photograph that their parents want a copy of—when someone is going to define themselves with your portrait that makes you a good photographer.”
Written by:
Kathryn Kyte - FASHIONOTES Contributor
