An Augmented Reality (AR) experience combining papercraft and oral storytelling to bring the remarkable migration of swallows to life.
Developed with support from Immersive Arts / Celfyddydau Ymdrochol, the project explores how art, nature and technology can create moments of reflection, wonder and connection for people with limited access to the outdoors.
Viewed through a smartphone, a printed postcard comes to life, opening a portal into the barn swallow’s world and its remarkable journey between the UK and Africa.
Beautifully crafted, immersive, and sensitive storytelling.
The AR Experience (at a Glance)
An immersive, interactive story following the swallow’s migration between the UK & Africa.
An accessible papercut activity connecting physical & digital worlds.
Gentle prompts & reflections invite participants to explore memories, feelings & personal journeys.
Augmented Reality unites physical, emotional & digital worlds in a shared moment of wonder.
At the heart of the experience is migration—a metaphor for hope, connection and the challenging journeys we each make through life.
Along the way, participants are invited to reflect on their own experiences of change, uncertainty and belonging.
One principle guides the entire AR experience: technology sits quietly behind the craft and storytelling.
Viewed through a smartphone, the postcard comes to life.
Voiceovers from storytellers Cara Silversmith and Gift Amu Logotse guide the swallow as it travels thousands of miles between the UK and Africa.
At the end of the journey, participants make a paper swallow and write a message of hope for it to carry home—making the experience personal, tangible and reflective.
While simple and accessible on the surface, it skillfully carries deep messages about recovery, migration, belonging and hope.
A Story Shaped by the Seasons
The physical and digital come together, allowing participants to hold the story in their hands while stepping inside it.
Participants follow the barn swallow’s migration through changing seasons, interwoven with traditional folklore and themes of memory, hope and renewal.
Bringing Migration to Life
Across four immersive landscapes, participants follow the swallows from familiar farmland, over open water and mountain ranges, to the vast Sahara Desert.
Connecting Physical & Digital Worlds
Through a simple papercraft activity, participants make their own barn swallow and write a personal message of hope for it to carry home.
Designed for bedside and care settings, these gentle creative prompts offer space for personal reflection.
The experience concludes by bringing the swallow out of the screen and into the participant’s surroundings—transforming the digital story into something tangible and personal.
Patients who tested it enjoyed the experience and were visibly moved.
AR Experience Outcomes:
- Creative connection: Bringing papercraft, storytelling and immersive technology into care settings in an accessible, meaningful way.
- Supporting reflection: Creating gentle opportunities to explore themes of migration, belonging, loss and hope through the swallow’s journey.
- Reaching people in isolation: Extending Wild Wings of Hope beyond workshop settings to people who may be living with illness or unable to take part in shared activities.
- Making with meaning: Inviting participants to create their own paper swallow and share a personal message of hope for it to carry home.
- Nature connection: Using the remarkable migration of swallows to foster wonder, connection and a sense of belonging to a wider living world.
A Collaborative Approach
This project has been shaped through collaboration.
Ed Harrison leads the creative direction and illustration. Tanya Parker leads the augmented reality development, and Paul Marshall creates the animations. Cara Silversmith and Chief Gift Amu Logotse bring the experience to life through their own oral storytelling traditions.
Together, the team is exploring how art, nature and technology can create accessible moments of reflection and connection in healthcare, community and cultural settings.
Through collaboration, this personal starting point opens into something shared—an invitation for others to reflect on their own journeys and find connection through the natural world.
Shaped by Love & Loss
The project grows from Ed’s personal experience of grief and loss, and his search for connection and hope through the natural world.
After the loss of his dad, the barn swallows returning each year to his family home became a powerful symbol of continuity, renewal and return.
What began as a personal response to loss has grown into a shared creative experience—offering moments of reflection, connection and hope to others navigating change in uncertain times.
Music, Making & Migrating Swifts
A celebration of swifts at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, bringing families together through papercraft, storytelling and participatory drumming.
