An abandoned city, broken, overrun by vegetation and deserted…

A single red car drives down one road. An endless desolate city landscape. A lone driver and his dog. There is a sense of darkness and foreboding… This is the opening sequence for I am Legend, a 2007 post apocalyptic film starring Will Smith.

Often in narratives about the future, dark stories of conflict and dystopia litter the landscape. Science becomes a weapon. Machines destroy humans. (Spoiler alert In I Am Legend, it’s zombies! ). Or humans become machines. Bleak.

Lucy McRae is a science- fiction artist and speculative designer, presents a contradictory, life affirming view. Her practice is about the future of humans. How humans build resilience. How humans respond to extreme conditions. 2020 (despite our desperate efforts to turn back time or cancel it) has been the perfect petri dish to test this.

McRae’s research imagines a fleshy and feminine future. Her practice is informed by emerging scientific research. She considers scenarios around interstellar travel and off-planet living. McRae asks whether our empathy, sensory and emotional worlds hold the greatest potential for the future of humanity?

Empathy, sensory and emotional. All words that describe stories and the art of storytelling.

What do you think – are these the keys to our future?

Please comment, I love hearing from you.