Epîak Studio™ - "Unnatural"

'Unnatural'

Virtual Photography Series by Eduardo Galvani

Captured in the virtual environment of "Horizon Zero Dawn¹", the images illustrate emblematic moments and places of a journey that begins in Nora's territory, crosses the Carja and Oseram provinces to end in the icy mountains on the extreme West of the "Sacred Lands."

With an approximate total length of 4 miles, the route was traveled on foot and with the aid of mounts during a slow trip, distributed in 45 days, with stops and stays in villages, during which was absorbed a little of the local culture, experienced dramatic climatic variations and known the main topological formations of the region.

Throughout the everyday activities, cultural experiences in the daily life allowed the exchange of knowledge mainly with inhabitants belonging to the group "Nora", who reported about the relationship of their mythology with local geography, fauna and flora, as well as characteristics and achievements of important personages of its ancestral history. Except for some dissidents, the "Carja" people are considered extremely rude and ignorant about foreigners; for years they have disputed with the "Nora" the dominion of local lands.

The fictional narrative is located in the year 3,000 AC and simulates a post-singularity dystopic reality where the ecological devastation promoted by machines endowed with artificial intelligence harms humans and other living biological beings belonging to the natural ecosystem. There, human tribes synthesize primitive knowledge with advanced digital technologies rediscovered after a long apocalyptic period. Thus, in addition to land conflicts, the predominance and improvement of digital codes and techniques for the domination and control of those machines are part of the conflictive relations between the "Nora" and the "Carja" people.

The setting and scenery were inspired by actual locations of the North American states of Colorado, Utah and Arizona, so that it is possible to identify around the landscape some geological formations and ruins of iconic buildings and monuments that exist nowadays in these places.

All the images were captured in the game Horizon Zero Dawn¹

( May contain spoilers )