We Live in Every Pixel: Trans Film and Video Game

"We Live in Every Pixel” is an archival documentary film and interactive video project initiated by Ava Mirage Wanbli as a collaboration to find expressive ways in an artistic platform for archiving the current lives of transgender people's autonomy, histories, and kinship across intersectional experiences in Chicago. The project will involve collaboration with Ry Douglas, an active community organizer trans performer in Chicago. The development will also include the skillsets of other transgender figures in Chicago in film, musical production, and venues to construct a movement in this yearlong production. The project seeks expressive, artistic ways to document and preserve the autonomy, histories, and kinship of transgender people across the full intersectional range of their lives and experiences. This project has been a long-held vision for Ava, shaped by years of living, creating, and participating in Chicago's art and transgender communities. It is rooted in deep relationships and a sustained commitment to centering trans voices with honesty, care, and dignity.

"We Live in Every Pixel" demonstrates agency in archiving transgender lives, with a direct focus on material outcomes as well as connecting transgender individuals to financial resources, community networks, and accessible platforms designed to support them now and into the future. 

The project is currently in production, with a focus on how conversation and representation are generated and how each participant is honored within that process. In-person interviews will be filmed and woven into the documentary. Each transgender participant will be 3D scanned, with their digital likeness used to build game assets in the Unity Game Engine. All digital assets will form virtual worlds that represent each person's life, history, insights, and desires. The production of both projects will require both a small film crew and game development team to be financially supported in their expertise                  

The interactive video game space exists as even further impactful engagement where Players and visitors will be able to visually explore each participant's desired world, encounter their 3D scanned presence, and access hyperlinks to their personal platforms, businesses, and digital payment tools, creating direct pathways for ongoing community support.The game will also connect users to organizations and networks for community building, functioning simultaneously as a living archive, and an interactive platform for direct participation. It will be accessible online via web browser and available for download, free to the public.

Donor contributions will directly fund the production of both the film and the game. This includes film crew costs covering videographers, sound, and production support for in-person interviews and documentary filming. It includes the game development itself covering programming, Unity Engine development, asset creation, and world-building. Funds will also go toward fair compensation for the trans artists, organizers, and community figures whose expertise and participation make this project possible, along with post-production editing, sound design, and finishing for the documentary film. Finally, funds will also support accessibility and distribution to ensure the game and film are freely available online to the widest possible audience.

The public can expect to experience the fully realized "We Live in Every Pixel" project in June 2027, as part of LGBTQ+ celebrations in Chicago. This premiere will mark the convergence of the documentary film and the interactive game, a living archive of transgender Chicago made available to the world.

By contributing to "We Live in Every Pixel," there is an investment to a broader ecosystem, one where transgender artists are resourced, trans stories are preserved with dignity, and trans communities have platforms that serve their real material needs. You are helping to build the kind of art landscape in Chicago, and beyond, where transgender voices do not just survive but thrive.