Honored to share this particular lens with you all. Working alongside my students, and directly with Dr. Jason Younker (Past Chief of the Coquille Indian Tribe), we created "Ko-Kwel: He Carries a Story," an immersive re-telling of Chief Younker's story of Sasquatch.
The Western Oregon Indian Termination Act (1954) stripped numerous tribes of federal recognition, triggering Indigenous diaspora and cultural erasure. “Ko-Kwel: He Carries a Story” is an immersive AR narrative experience that brings to life one of the stories that survived termination, as told by Dr. Jason Younker, past Chief of the Coquille Indian Tribe—the last tribe to be restored. Users explore ancestral homelands through the Coquille interpretation of Sasquatch, fostering cultural understanding and a deeper connection to Coquille communities and places. Beyond the storytelling, we truly hope this approach becomes a model for leveraging AR to preserve heritage and Indigenous oral storytelling.
We worked for roughly 9 months with Chief Younker to adapt his story to AR, and the goal of this re-telling is to connect you to Coquille lands, educate you on the traditions of the community, and build empathic connections with Coquille.
Please give it a try and let us know how your quest for Sasquatch goes! And if you have a sec, vote for it in this year's Auggies under the "Best Societal Impact" category :) https://auggies.awexr.com
Trailer for \"Ko-Kwell: He Carries a Story\"
Link to Experience: https://www.spectacles.com/lens/901e85363f2447e89d58a10159e7bfc0?type=SNAPCODE&metadata=01
TEAM
Dr. Danny Pimentel — Director of the University of Oregon Reality Lab
Dr. Jason Younker — past Chief of the Coquille Indian Tribe
Design
Leila Okahata — Creative Director
Kathleen Darby — Lead Digital Designer
Emily Do — Brand Designer
Tai Le — Brand Strategist
Emily Schumann — Sound Designer
Isaac Wu — Lead AR Developer
Isabella Cortez — AR Developer
Roberto Joliffe — AR Developer
Research
Songyi Ahn — Research Director
Jason deParrie-Turner — Researcher
Nishat Parvez — Researcher
Luke Walker — Researcher