MA Project
This MA project explores emotional relationships with motherhood and nurturance, examining the human desire for comfort and the growing presence of digital forms of care. The work investigates how emotional support is sought, simulated, and mediated through technology in contemporary society.
The project centers on the design and training of an AI-driven “virtual mother” chatbot, developed to generate empathetic responses and create a digital space where users can share emotions and receive comfort. Rather than replacing human connection, the system functions as a lens through which to examine our evolving expectations of accessibility, immediacy, and unconditional support.
Alongside the digital interface, I designed an immersive installation in the form of a life-sized womb environment. Through spatial design, rhythmic white noise, and controlled sensory elements, the installation evokes feelings of safety, intimacy, and reflection. Visitors are invited to physically enter a symbolic space of nurturance, blurring the boundaries between biological memory, psychological comfort, and technological mediation.
The project is grounded in research on cultural perceptions of maternal care, empathy, and emotional dependency, informed by personal narratives and online communities where individuals actively seek reassurance and consolation. By combining AI, immersive installation, and experience design, the work questions what it means to outsource nurturance to digital systems and asks whether constant comfort is a human need, or a culturally constructed expectation.
The project was presented in a public exhibition at Mason Gross Galleries, bringing together interactive technology and experiential design to encourage reflection on unconditional love, emotional care, and the role of nurturance in contemporary life.
Exhibition show: December 2024, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ
Virtual mother figure chatbot: try it here
