Desierto Recordado is an immersive VR experience that reconstructs four historical periods of the Chihuahuan Desert in northeastern Mexico, the largest desert in North America. With complete freedom of movement, visitors explore detailed environments shaped by environmental storytelling. Developed in collaboration with historian Andrés Gordillo López, each period — the Mesozoic Era, the 16th, 19th, and 21st centuries — reveals how the region’s landscape and cultures have transformed over time. Interactions invite users to make decisions in morally complex scenarios: from the trial of a woman accused of witchcraft during the Inquisition to a child's coerced act of violence during the war on drugs. These choices affect the environment and personalize the historical experience. The journey begins around a desert campfire, where the traditional cardenche song — a regional a cappella genre on the verge of extinction — evokes the emotional and cultural depth of the land. The work weaves together documentary structure, symbolic elements, and critical imagination into a poetic exploration of territory, memory, and identity.
