“Reflective Journey VR” reimagines my site-specific land art project within an immersive digital environment. The original work was created on an island that was not easily accessible to the public, which inspired me to find a way to reach a wider audience. By bringing it into the virtual realm, I could share the experience not only with people around the world but also engage a younger generation who spend more time in video games and VR spaces than my own generation — introducing them to my artwork in a medium familiar to them.

For Art Dubai Digital 2024, curated by Auronda Scalera and Alfredo Cramerotti and presented with Sanji Gallery (Booth X-8) under the curatorial direction of Juli Cho Bailer and Micaela Giovannotti, the piece was reconstructed in virtual reality. In this version, light, sky, and horizon respond dynamically to the viewer’s movements, creating a heightened sense of immersion. The mirrored doors and pathways of the original installation now exist in a space where physical and digital landscapes converge, offering a contemplative journey that explores reflection, transformation, and our connection to the Earth.

The VR edition also becomes a statement on sustainability: a form of land art that leaves no physical trace yet imprints deeply on the human experience. By extending the original work into a universally accessible format, Reflective Journey VR invites audiences of all ages to step into a shared act of exploration and awareness.

Shirin Abedinirad is an Iranian artist whose work explores notions of identity, unity with nature, and the boundless essence of being through various mediums including video, performance, land art, and installation. Born in Tabriz, Iran in 1986, Shirin began her artistic journey with painting before going on to earn degrees in graphic design and fashion. While researching conceptual overlaps between fashion and conceptual art, she became fascinated by performance and started staging public interventions confronting issues of gender, sexuality, and human compassion back in Iran. Shirin's practice took a pivotal turn after a 2013 desert experience led her to create land and installation works centering natural imagery. Using minimalist arrangements of elemental materials like water, mirrors, and light, she crafts liminal spaces that serve as portals to transcend separation from the living Earth. The optical effects generated reflect back our inherent belonging. Exhibiting worldwide in festivals and biennials since 2010, Shirin's work has been showcased across Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and North America. She is the author of a Persian-language book Fashion and Conceptual Art in the 21st Century, the recipient of numerous grants and awards, and holds an MFA from Michigan State University. Currently splitting her time between the United States and overseas projects, Shirin continues her conceptual exploration into the essence of selfhood and its relationship with nature through varied types of new media art. She is currently teaching as an assistant professor at Utah Valley University, where she inspires students to engage with art as a means of fostering unity and healing the planet through compassion.