— Illustration as a research discipline is a very niche field, which I think has yet to be fully understood within academia. Although at first it was difficult to identify my place as an academic researcher, over time it allowed me to expand upon my current discipline through forming collaborations with other fields. However, it has taken me years to acclimate into a research based environment. I would say the major difference was transitioning from a client based brief with being given a problem to solve, versus coming up with my own research question to investigate. It was challenging for me to shift my lens towards the latter because I was so accustomed to a client-based model for a decade, being given very little time for reflection on self-authorship.

Now that I’ve entered a full time tenure-track position, at a R1 institution no less, high research activity is expected of me. Although client projects and commissions can count towards my research obligations to the university, recently I’ve found myself drawn towards exploring new technologies and immersive media. My goals have shifted towards augmented reality and XR tools as a way of elevating the illustration discipline and advancing the field. The advantage of working at a university is being able to tap into the resources and connections that weren’t as readily available to me as a freelancer. There is a lot of room for cross collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking across various fields, which allows me to broaden my perspectives on the ways that illustration as a medium can grow. It also allows me to see how illustration can be used in a variety of contexts beyond just the traditional client-based applications. 

Therefore to answer the original question, I think although at first it may seem difficult to see the connection between professional practice and research, over time it becomes exciting to see the ways illustration can be applied to various research fields, and how both can be used to elevate one another. I think it’s also important to remember that the definitions of both illustration and research can constantly change and evolve as well.

Another theoretical framework that I referenced during the creation of my thesis was ‘Listening to Images’ by Tina Campt, who suggests that there is much to be learned and extracted from photographs by choosing to ‘listen’ to them rather than simply looking. Campt encourages the viewer to seek out the ‘lower frequencies’ of these images, allowing a deeper engagement with forgotten histories and suppressed forms of diasporic memory (Campt 6). While my research does not focus on sound or utilise it within the creation, VR is an inherently embodied experience and therefore this is a powerful device for engaging with the work. Placing the audience directly within the piece grants viewer multisensory access to the piece, allowing them to ‘listen’ into the subject matter in a deep and compelling way. 

Campt’s proposed framework invites us to challenge our understanding on how we perceive sound, along with reimagining how we perceive information through our senses. Deep mapping itself echoes this sentiment by subverting how we perceive information through conventional two-dimensional mapping, adding further depth that places an emphasis on sensory expression, which I have developed in my research creation project through 3D and game engine design and development to build my VR. Campt invites us to investigate the stories of the banal and mundane everyday things with her practice.

While applying this to my own making practices, I felt this the most vividly during the furniture 3D modelling process. By listening to images, I found myself listening to the everyday objects in both spaces. I would listen intently to the reference images provided to me by my relatives in China, trying my best to recreate their essence as I modelled them. I would listen to the photographs within my grandmother’s home, including the family group portraits dating all the way back to my mother’s childhood. As I fashioned each furniture piece within Blender, I felt a connection with each and everyone of these objects, especially since the furniture in my grandmother’s house has not changed for decades. Several furniture pieces in my bedroom have also stayed within our household since my childhood, carrying the history of our family within their presence. Modelling the miniscule details of feet, legs, and details of cabinet furniture would trigger specific memories and moments of lived experiences in my life, making me realise the power of banal things.

— When I was placed inside virtual reality, I immediately felt as though I was there myself. Despite how primitive the rendering felt, not being fully realised to the highest fidelity at that stage, walking through specific angles within the piece made me think back to moments in time. This gave me a method of speechless storytelling, communicating an environment to the viewer. As I entered my virtual reality space for the first time, I was reminded of moments of gathering and sharing meals at the small dining table, reconnecting with my family overseas who I normally wouldn’t be able to share this daily ritual with regularly back in Canada without their presence. I was reminded of the oddly shaped doorways and narrow hallways of the first floor of my grandmother’s house. I was reminded very viscerally of the atmosphere of being within the house, gathering my lived memories within my second home.

The embodiment of walking through each room within my grandmother’s house in virtual reality brought back not only temporal memories but also sensory experiences as well. I recall feelings such as the intense summer heat, the outdoor sounds of cicadas, and the number of mosquitos during the evening from the humidity. I remember the summer heat being so intense as a child, with a higher intensity felt than in Toronto. We would stay indoors within one room inside my grandmother’s house, which was the only room that had air conditioning. Air conditioning was often a huge necessity to survive the sweltering temperatures in Shanghai. I would remember slowly trying to decipher conversations with my family members, trying to communicate with my grandmother to show my affection for her despite not being fluent in Chinese. There were many nonverbal ways that I felt my grandmother’s affection, with small events such as taking walks around her neighbourhood, petting her cats, watching her draw with ink brushes on paper, or just simply watching a television show together in her bedroom. This visceral and sensory quality of virtual reality despite lacking actual sound or smells within the piece, added another layer of dimension of interactivity, simply by feeling like you could venture directly into the creation itself. As a creator engaging with her own work in this way, this brought a plethora of re-lived experiences.

Extending this piece to incorporate other voices and other perspectives has deepened my understanding of self, opening perspectives that may not have been apparent to me before by simply relying on my recollections alone. Introducing this piece to my younger sister, she felt a similar connection to this space, even though her experiences with my grandmother have been limited in her lifetime in comparison to mine. Like myself, she also felt an immediate resonance to the environment even from just viewing the piece. Seeing specific objects and scenes evoked an emotional response within her. However, she commented that perhaps these special feelings of closeness may not necessarily feel as visceral and vibrant to a someone who has no relation to the space whatsoever in real life. Regardless of what outsider opinions may be in response to this piece, I believe that the positionality of placing them directly within an environment will cause them to empathise with the narrative that is being presented before them. As a creator, I would like them to make their own unique observations between sensing the dichotomy within two culturally different spaces.

Immersing myself within this piece also enabled me to empathise with the viewpoint of my family members living within Shanghai. This was something I experienced both within the making practices and during the early playtesting stages. I would try and imagine the lives that were being led there, envisioning their stories and narratives that went on daily in my absence. Standing in the garden within virtual reality, I would try to see things from my grandmother’s perspective as she led her daily routine there. She led a quiet life during her retirement, often spending time on the porch with her cat, gardening in the front yard, and speaking with the other elderly women in her neighbourhood.

Observing my mother and father’s reactions to the piece, it also triggered certain memories within them as well. For my father, when viewing the spare bedroom on the first level, he shared that it was the room that he and my mother first lived in during the early stages of their marriage in China. For a time, before they had their own place, they lived in that part of my grandmother’s house, buying some of the furniture that still exists in that room until this day. The room that was used by grandmother until her passing was occupied by one of my other aunts, while my grandmother and grandfather used the room upstairs on the second floor. This was a memory that was surprisingly forgotten to my mother but something my father had still retained.

— Yes, currently my main research interests have been focused on activating public art experiences with augmented reality. I am currently interested in how technology can be used to re-invent images through immersive techniques and XR tools. Based on my own research interests, I believe that the future of illustration lies within finding ways to enhance the 2D image through extended reality and immersive media.

In Summer 2025, I completed a 200 sq ft. mural for The University of Arizona in the Lungren Consumer Science Lab, in collaboration with The UCATT Office on campus. This mural was designed with an integrated augmented reality component as well. When scanned with a smartphone device in Adobe Aero, a short animation will be displayed on the viewer's screen, making the mural's visuals come to life. This mural concept was designed with the intention of reflecting the use of the space, involving cutting edge resources in extended reality. With the center graphics, I wanted to depict a woman jumping into repeating panels, going beyond her reality and immersing herself into new extended worlds. The environment, plants, and characters are all representative of our local Tucson community within Arizona's desert climate. The theme of extended reality in this piece is also further enhanced with the implemented augmented reality component as well. The color palette used was also meant to be similar to our official U of A branding colors to represent our school's identity.

The biggest challenge that we encountered was that shortly after we launched the new mural, Adobe announced that they would no longer continue to run the app in the Creative Suite collection. Although the AR experience was successfully implemented, we are now currently in the process of looking into other augmented reality apps or possibly use virtual reality instead. We are also trying to find ways to bypass using a QR code to which directs the user to the app store to download the app before being able to access the AR experience.

Taking from these experiences, I would say that AR is still quite a niche thing that still hasn’t quite established a strong foothold within the creative community. With Adobe’s decision to remove Aero from their suite, it could signify that they are moving on into other ventures or perhaps don’t see the value in it as they might once have. The technology still hasn’t quite reached a point where it can be implemented seamlessly into any experience without any hiccups or speed bumps along the way. However, I believe that AR still is a worthy technology that should still continue to be refined and developed. My desire is for it to be seen less as a novelty and more of an integral part of public art viewing experiences. I believe that its interactive capabilities can add additional value, context, and meaning into any visual piece.