I wanted to give visibility to Austin’s gentrification problem and share the stories of the businesses and cultural centers that have been lost, so I started What Once Was–a project that uses AR to give new life to lost businesses owned by POC. I partnered with local nonprofits Six Square and E4 Youth to bring the project to life, and we launched as an official SXSW event in 2022.
📰 AdWeek, Little Black Book, Austin American Statesman, Fox 7
📰 AdWeek, Little Black Book, Austin American Statesman, Fox 7
Our AR experiences were available on Instagram and Facebook–they opened directly to your in-app camera as a filter. For SXSW, we put posters on site where the lost businesses used to be, so that people could scan a QR code and see the business that was there before they were.
Our launch was on official SXSW programming as a community event. We had a Black vendor market, a panel of academics, and AR experiences ready to try. Roughly 300 people came out.
Our Instagram page served as a hub for the project. There, people could try our AR filters, learn more about Austin’s gentrification problem, and find exisiting POC-owned businesses to support.
Creative Direction + Branding: meself
AR Production: Froliq and Darnell Wilson
Event Production: Regine Malibiran