THE ONWARD PROJECT
NEW UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
The ONWARD Project amplifies Native voices to inspire new understandings of history and place in the American Southwest.
The project tells the stories of the largest historic research program in the region – the 1933 Rainbow Bridge – Monument Valley Expedition – and interrogate historic implications through art, technology and diverse perspectives.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE
1933 RAINBOW BRIDGE-MONUMENT VALLEY
EXPEDITION
The Onward Project, a Santa Monica-based non-profit organization created by Getty alum Elizabeth Kahn, is dedicated to assembling and sharing with the public the tremendous breadth of material associated with the last of the great explorations of the American Southwest during the 1930s– the Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley Expedition.
Via multiple US museum exhibitions, digital archives, educational resources—and utilizing the latest interactive virtual reality technologies —The Onward Project gives voice to the people who were impacted by the expedition, the native communities culturally related to the land, and those from the prehistoric past.
The project serves as a model for future virtual presentations about fragile and/or sacred sites around the globe.
PHOTOS FROM THE 1933 EXPEDITION
CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE
As a partner with this unique project, Blueplanet VR has photogrammetrically captured a remote 900 year-old Puebloan site in Northern Arizona in extremely high resolution, allowing virtual visitation of the highly sensitive site in original, intact archaeological condition, but without the destructive effects of physical visitation.
Interactive interpretation while in VR is aided by virtual presence of key experts of the region, including Navajo Nation archaeologist Ron Maldonado, The Denetso, Littlesalt and Austin Families, Allison Hana Fischer-Olson, Ailish Ullman, and Project Director Elizabeth Kahn. Future capture of related sites are planned.
Learn more about the Onward Project here.
