Year of the Cicadas: A VR Experience on Grief


In the spring of 2004 in Indiana, billions of Great Eastern Cicadas, also known as “Brood X Cicadas”, emerged from their 17-year slumber.
The loudest insect on earth, the cicadas spent the six short weeks of their lives chirping their shrill, relentless song for the sole purpose of finding a mate to reproduce and then die. That same spring, in a small southern Indiana town, a small boy died unexpectedly when his perfectly imperfect heart gave out.
Seventeen years later, the cicadas – along with their painfully beautiful song – reemerged.
Funded in part by the Unity for Humanity Grant, The Year of the Cicadas is a virtual reality experience about loss and meaning making over time.
WEBSITE: https://www.yearofthecicadas.com/
Hieftje K. Year of the Cicadas. JAMA. Published online April 24, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.2814
Want to Work with XRPeds?