Apr 8, 2026 Pablo Cruz Ayala, Spring 2025 Graduate Fellow
Migration in Light – Digital Matters Reflection
Briefly describe your project and the challenges, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome in the execution of it. What were the professional, academic, and personal motivations underlying your project?
Migration in Light is a virtual reality exhibition created to document, preserve, and uplift the stories of undocumented immigrants through immersive and collaborative art. Developed over
the spring 2025 academic semester, this project brings together over 30 collaborators and presents 18 unique artworks rooted in oral histories, written narratives, and shared memory. Using 3D scanning, interactive design, and spatial storytelling, the exhibition functions as a living archive that imagines third spaces within digital archives, resisting erasure and reclaiming presence.
One of the initial hurdles was learning how to use the Unity game engine. Coming from a background in biomedical engineering and visual art, I had little experience with game development or VR systems. The process required many nights of trial and error, navigating unfamiliar technical workflows, and learning how to translate artistic vision into interactive environments. With the support of peers and mentors at the Marriott Library and access to a wide range of resources, I was able to build a fully functioning and publishable VR exhibition
My motivation for this project was deeply personal and community-driven. After encountering interdisciplinary work through Elena Stromberg’s Intersections art history course and visiting
PST ART exhibitions across California in 2024, I was inspired by how technology, science, and art could intersect to preserve ecological and cultural memory. I wanted to create a digital
archive that could protect and hold the stories of undocumented individuals, especially in moments where they are made to feel invisible.
Home Screen of Digital Exhibition Program
Digital Gallery Model Top View
How did the Digital Matters Fellowship dovetail with your academic pursuits? What interested you in applying for this grant?
The Digital Matters Fellowship aligned directly with my interdisciplinary practice as a community artist and activist, allowing me to merge my interests in art, science, and community engagement. My academic background lies between engineering and studio art, and this project became a space where both disciplines could inform one another. I had previous experience with Utah’s Historical Society and Voices for Utah Children in gathering and conducting oral histories from immigrant families. This organically led to a desire to share experiences from a place of vulnerability in a way that would be accessible beyond a physical location.
I was drawn to the fellowship for its commitment to experimentation and support for projects that challenge traditional boundaries. After being exposed to collaborative and cross-disciplinary exhibitions through PST ART, I saw the potential for digital platforms to expand how stories are told and preserved. This grant provided the structure, resources, and encouragement to pursue a project that might otherwise have felt too technically or conceptually ambitious. Even within my MFA program, I was limited in the scope of projects I could see through to fruition, but having my own space made me feel safe to explore and be vulnerable with faculty and communities alike.
What insights have you gained in regard to your specific field as a result of your project and grant experience?
Through this project, I gained a deeper understanding of what collaboration means. Especially with communities whose stories are often excluded from institutional spaces. Opening doors to these narratives required trust, care, and accountability. It reshaped my understanding of authorship, shifting from individual creation toward collective storytelling.
I also began to think about VR and digital space as an interstitial digital ecotone: a space between disciplines, realities, and identities. In this space, digital tools can serve as forms of survivance, preserving stories in precarious conditions. Even as educational tools, I was able to share 3D scans of the paintings, capturing details down to their brush strokes and textures, with my family and communities in Mexico who might never have seen them in person. The process of 3D scanning and archiving artworks reinforced the idea that digital environments are not separate from lived experience, but extensions of it.
Artwork info interactable page
What would you tell potential Graduate Fellow applicants to help them shape their own digital scholarship project?
I encourage applicants not to be discouraged by the perceived boundaries between disciplines. Some of the most meaningful lessons I’ve learned, both in this project and in my broader experience as a community researcher and artist, come from understanding how different fields inform one another. Humanities can guide and nurture STEM, just as scientific thinking can deepen creative practice. Being open to that dual stream of consciousness is invaluable. Digital Matters is a space where those intersections are not only possible but necessary. Lean into that interdisciplinarity, and don’t be afraid to pursue projects that feel unfamiliar or technically challenging.
What do you see as the upcoming important issues surrounding digital scholarship in your field? What areas/issues could students and scholars investigate to extend knowledge in this area?
One of the most pressing issues is how we maintain and prioritize our humanity within rapidly advancing digital spaces. As technology continues to evolve, there is a risk of abstraction, of losing the emotional, cultural, and relational aspects that define human experience. Projects like Migration in Light ask how digital tools can be used not just for innovation, but for care, memory, and connection. How do we ensure that marginalized stories are not only included, but centered? How do we build archives that are accessible, ethical, and community-driven?
Future research should explore how digital platforms can function as sites of collective memory and resistance. To neglect these stories is to neglect our shared future. Every stage of development, whether technological, artistic, or scientific, depends on our ability to remain connected to one another. The further we stray from that connection, the more we limit innovation for all.
Unity programming dashboard and UI, light rigging, teleporting areas, and file storage.