Digital image made in Virtual Reality that portrays the Christ child as discovered by a homeless man

Accept the Gift

Bobby, The Resistance, Video, Virtual Photography

First posted 12/11/2016 as The Night Bobby Found Christ in an Abandoned Subway Car

I read the Nativity story as the story of a God who decides to incarnate as an outcast among the poor and oppressed people of a barbaric civilization with a static class system.

Life was brutish and short for the poor.

The warrior God of Israel takes flesh as an impoverished Jewish outcast whose
life is in danger from the moment of conception.

It’s a great story!

I wondered how it might look today and saw a homeless youth who finds
the abandoned Christ child in an unused subway car.

Will he accept the burden of this gift?

An avatar that represents an alternate named Bobby is shown finding the Christ child in an abandoned subway car
A homeless youth finds the abandoned Christ child in an unused subway car.

I used VR to make a video of it.

I got the idea for the subway car from Dark Days, a documentary made in the 1990’s about a tribe of homeless people who live in the abandoned subway tunnels of New York.

I use two photo-shopped frames from the documentary as an homage to it.

I first came up with this idea in 2011 but didn’t have the skill I needed
to make it work the way I envisioned it.

I’m going to remake the video for next Christmas.

Merry Christmas to the World!

May we find our way back to the light.

The video is a series high-resolution panels staged and shot in virtual reality and processed in multiple apps.

I cropped a cover of Silent Night  found at the Internet Archives.

To the best of my knowledge the recording is in the public domain.

44 thoughts on “Accept the Gift”

  1. Pingback: Thank you, Robert! – Erika Kind
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      2. I’ve got the hardware for it…my problem is that I have to be careful about using VR because it image requires a ‘controlled’ use of my symptoms or alternates. If they become completely autonomous again life in the real world is hellish. So I limit the use of VR to twice a month. But I’d love to learn how to make a good high resolution video — If I didn’t have DID I’d be endlessly fascinated with Virtual Reality as a means of making art and performance.,

        Liked by 1 person

      3. You have such a talent Rob, and I loved the way you put all of this together. I wouldn’t be able to stand using VR that much either so can understand why you have to limit your time with it 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

      6. Yes. Although it sounds judgemental of me; I will never understand people who see a tool like VR as nothing more than a way to indulge in ersatz consumerism. That could also just be my inability to understand the gaming mentality.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. This is, I’m struggling to find the right words, Rob, astonishing, moving, thank you. And thank you for bringing this, sharing it with those who visit my blog party. Hope this week treats you kindly. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  15. Robert, what you created here is deeply touching. It went straight to my heart and I still have goosebumps. It is basically a very interesting thought how Christ would incarnate today. I can absolutely go with your idea and again. That video says more than thousand words! Thank you for this!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

I appreciate your comments, though I can’t always reply immediately

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