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Articles by Joi Lee
An occupation doesn’t end just because they say it does
It wasn’t the vehicles you noticed first. It was the listening. In Minneapolis, people began listening differently. Conversations paused mid-sentence. Heads tilted toward distant sounds. A whistle, shrill and piercing, could send a ripple down an entire block. It was the warning system neighbours built for one another: immigration agents nearby. As norms disintegrated and what people knew to be true collapsed, even the sound of whistles seemed to detach from reality.
“No one is illegal on stolen land”
In a sea of white sky and blanketed snow, it’s hard to miss the vibrant colours of Pow Wow Grounds Cafe. In this parking lot, nestled on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis’s vibrant American Indian Cultural Corridor, the flag that flies proudly and defiantly isn’t the red and white stripes, but one that flies the sacred colours of the Oglala Lakota nation. Pow Wow Grounds is a Native-owned café – but in recent weeks, it has become much more than a place for coffee and frybread.
Joi Lee
Joi Lee is an Emmy-nominated independent journalist and producer whose work sits at the intersection of environment, social justice, and equity. Over the past decade, she has experimented across mediums – from film and immersive media to podcasts and social platforms – pairing visual storytelling with deep editorial strategy to ensure stories genuinely serve the communities at their center.
Welcome to Contrast VR’s Weekly Blog
Welcome to Contrast VR’s weekly blog, where we will bring you behind-the-scenes in our productions, spotlight interviews with prominent people in the industry, and introduce you to the members of our diverse team. Our team: Zahra Rasool, Viktorija Mickute, Ousama Itani (Top Row, left to right), Joi Lee, Maria Fernanda Lauret, Abigail Morgan (Bottom Row, left to right). This week, we kick off the blog series by introducing Contrast VR and how it all began.
Numbers- The Ultimate Weapon Against Fake News
The 2020 U.S election has become one of the most monumental in history as the pandemic response, social strife, and record unemployment rates have all but added to the existing social issues faced by the country. Adding insult to injury are the numerous accusations of widespread voter fraud from President Trump and his supporters. This rhetoric has continued to cause great division within the country as allegations, rumors, and fake news flood news outlets and social media sites in waves.
No food left uneaten: Beloved dishes that came from leftovers
In today's world, approximately one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted every year. For past generations, surplus was a rare luxury. Some of the most iconic dishes loved around the world have their roots in humble beginnings, created as ingenious inventions of necessity and are creative expressions of what to do with the food that was available.
How Two Yemeni Women Are Using 360 Video to Reveal Realities of War
“Many women lost their husbands from the war. Yemeni women became both the mother and father.” — Amal Al Yarisi, Yemeni journalist This time last year, we released our first virtual reality documentary from Yemen, Yemen’s Skies of Terror, that was filmed by two local journalists Ahmad Algohbary and Manal Qaed Alwesabi.
Inside Skopje, Europe's most polluted capital city
Skopje, North Macedonia - Every winter, the pollution in Skopje skyrockets to alarmingly high rates. In 2018, Skopje became the most polluted capital city in Europe reaching the highest annual mean of PM 2.5, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Tiny particles named for their diameter of 2.5 micrometres - about three percent of the diameter of a human hair - PM 2.5 are considered the most dangerous air pollutants for health.
From waste to taste: Brazil's fight against food waste
Inside Feira da Gloria, one of the many local markets in Rio de Janeiro where local farmers sell their wares. Open every Sunday, the market is home to produce stands, tapioca stalls, fish and seafood sections, and more. Nearly 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year, more than a third of food production worldwide. The amount of food wasted globally every year is enough to feed two billion people.
What It Means to be Homeless in Los Angeles, in 360º Storytelling
Over the holidays, we began releasing the latest edition of our My People, Our Stories, a series that take us to Los Angeles, California, where we worked with five homeless people to develop and film their first 360 videos. This initiative aims at training and equipping underserved communities to use immersive technology to share their own stories, and has been organized in South Sudan, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, refugee camps in Jordan, and more.
Healing trauma in South Sudan through mental health programmes
"We define trauma as a wound. It is when something shocking or abnormal happens in your life, and it overwhelms you and you don't know how to respond," says Thor Riek, a 32-year-old South Sudanese. South Sudan, the world's youngest country, achieved independence in 2011 after decades of fighting. The country has spent most of its short existence embroiled in conflict, after an internal armed struggle escalated into a civil war in December 2013 that continues until present day.
Nigerians coping with food shortage after Boko Haram attacks
Maiduguri, Nigeria - Attacks involving Boko Haram have displaced more than 1.8 million Nigerians in predominantly agricultural northeast Nigeria over the last 10 years. Due to the increase in violence, many small-scale farmers were forced to abandon their farms and agricultural activities. The subsequent fall in production, rocketing food prices, and lack of safe access to markets created one of the world's worst food security crises alongside Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan.
Distributing 360 Content Across Platforms and Publishers
The conversation around virtual reality almost always inevitably circles back to the question of distribution. How can a medium, meant to create immersive experiences, widely circulate in the same way that other videos do? Reserving virtual reality content for viewing on headsets can be both an asset and a limitation — while it ensures the quality of experience, it is limited to a smaller audience.
Yemen's skies of terror: Three years of war in Yemen
The war in Yemen has entered its fourth year. The campaign by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels has seen more than 16,633 air raids launched across the country since March 26, 2015. The attacks have devastated Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. "My parents and all three sisters were killed by an air strike in our neighbourhood. I don't know if the world is aware of what is going on here," said Abu Bakr, a 17-year-old in Yemen's coastal city of Hodeidah.
Syrian refugees share dreams and ambitions in 360 documentary
Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan - The war in Syria is now in its eighth year and Syrians across the world have become accustomed to a different life. Using animations to illustrate their dreams, Dreaming in Zaatari: Stories After Syria, an immersive virtual-reality film, takes viewers into the lives of three Syrian teenagers in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp.
Syria's war: Teenagers share stories from Zaatari refugee camp
Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan - Mahmoud fled Syria when he was nine, Najat when she was 11. Like many other Syrian teenagers, both of them grew up far away from home. "7 Stories for 7 Years" is an immersive 360 documentary by Contrast VR - Al Jazeera's immersive media studio - and World Vision. Narrated by Liam Cunningham, from Game of Thrones, the documentary shows the interwoven stories of seven young Syrian teenagers living in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.
How Virtual Reality Is Tackling Women’s Issues – Contrast – Medium
The VR industry has become an interesting space for women’s issues. On one hand, the infancy of the virtual reality industry is often seen as an opportunity to develop a more inclusive culture in contrast to a heavily male-dominated tech industry. But while men still dominate the virtual reality scene, a visibly large presence of women have been at the forefront of shaping the industry as producers, start-up entrepreneurs, and pioneers. Our Contrast VR Team consists entirely of women.
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