Wes Viz
Digitally Rewilding The Westfjords
In July of 2023, I arrived in Iceland to take part in an artists residency in the remote Westfjords region, in a village called Ísafjörður. Initially I was interested in creating a ‘virtual land artwork’ in the same vein as Robert Smithson albeit digitally, but had a pivotal moment during the drive up to the residency. There was an abundance of the purple lupine flower stretching alongside the roads. These flowers are famous in Iceland for their summer colours, but when I reached Ísafjörður and was speaking to locals they were a point of contention. The flowers were not native; they had been purposely brought to Iceland in 1945 in an attempt to plant vegetation that would prevent topsoil erosion. Over a century of hack-and-slash had taken its toll on the land and lupines were a solution at the time. However their rapid spread, coupled with global warming has become of extreme concern to Icelanders.
With Digitally Rewilding the Westfjords I create an immersive 3D environment to reimagine the landscape and decolonize the vegetation - rewilding current populated environments and positioning an alternate world where we had not replaced native vegetation with invasive species.
A month after returning home from Iceland, the Maui wildfires broke out. The fires were a tragedy resulting in over 115 deaths. Global warming was the main culprit, but scientists have also attributed its rapid spread to an increase in non-native grass species on the island. These grasses were left to grow unchecked and were highly flammable. This catastrophe happening so closely after creating ‘Digitally Rewilding’ struck me as a call to arms. Something could be done with my immersive environments that could create a bigger awareness of what is happening with increasing acceleration to our natural world.
Even in this remote wilderness we can see the effects of mankind and the future devastation it could lead to. With Digitally Rewilding the Westfjords is rewilding an environment to what it would look like before human intervention, in its most natural and pristine state.
[All 3D animation and music in Digitally Rewilding the Westfjords has been created by myself. To see a behind-the-scenes documentary please visit here]
About the Artist
Wes Viz is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in immersive art and large-scale world building. A veteran in animation, her 15-year career has spanned commercials, music videos, and stage visuals. Her videos and projects have been featured in Creative Review, Kaltblut Magazine, Hunger and Paper Mag. In 2019 she worked with Channel 4 and NASA to create the longest-running audio reactive animation in broadcast history - a 135 hour video that ran continuously to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. To detail these achievements she has given a talk ‘Art of the Visual’, which is available online. She is also the creator of stage visuals for music artists such as Stormzy, Hozier and Biffy Clyro.
Wes Viz’s art explores how virtual environments change how we perceive each other and the world around us. She is currently developing immersive art experiences to further explore these themes while continuing to work as a visual artist. She aims for her art to provide crucial commentary on our relation with technology and nature as a whole.