My Metaverse: An Afro-Futuristic Dreamscape | Serwah Attafuah with Matt Hermans | TEDxSydney

The idea of living within a metaverse isn't new for Serwah Attafuah. The cyber world has long been a refuge and a place of experimentation for her. In this talk, which she delivers simultaneously from within a digital landcsape and live on stage, Serwah shares how online places provide a place to exist and shape her identity. As metaverses become a more common part of our cyber reality, Serwah argues that we shouldn't rely on others making the online worlds we'll inhabt but seek to create our own as acts of creative, cultural and individual expression.

Serwah Attafuah is a multidisciplinary artist and musician based on Dharug land/ Western Sydney, Australia. She creates surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands, populated by afro-futuristic abstractions of self with strong ancestral and contemporary themes. Serwah has collaborated and been commissioned by clients including Mercedes Benz, Nike, GQ, Adobe, Paris Hilton and Charli XCX. Recent notable achievements include her participation in Sotheby's 'Natively Digital': A Curated NFT auction and 'Apotheosis': a live motion capture experience with Soft Centre at The Sydney Opera House.

Matt Hermans is a young veteran of the advertising industry in Australia. Covering the gamut of TVC, Film and installation mediums he has a wide base of experience over the past 17 years. Considered by many to be Australia’s foremost XR and Virtual Production specialist he understands every aspect of creating immersive environments. Matt has a vision of the ‘electric dream’ – that which aims to deepen the connection between the artist and the audience by engaging the mind to create its own art within. Over the past couple of years he has finally met with this intersection of VR and VFX. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx