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Where art meets access
Riya Mahajan explains how The Whale reimagines classic American novel Moby-Dick, placing accessibility at the centre of immersive theatre
Summary
3D artist and visual designer Riya Mahajan, FRSA reflects on her work as Lead 3D Visual Artist for The Whale, an immersive reimagining of Moby-Dick at FRAMELESS London.
Published in Issue 2 2026 with the title ‘Riya Mahajan’
There is a particular joy in seeing a digital world move beyond the computer screen and into a shared physical space. When I was invited to collaborate on the 3D world design for The Whale, an immersive theatre production, I was excited by the chance to bring Herman Melville’s classic American novel Moby-Dick to life within a vast projection environment inhabited by both performers and audience members.
Reimagining a classic
Conceived by co-directors and theatre makers Jack Hardiker-Bresson and Sharon Clark, The Whale set out to be a bold reimagining of Moby-Dick, fusing live theatre with a 180° projection at FRAMELESS London, the UK’s largest permanent multi-sensory venue.
As Lead 3D Visual Artist, I was responsible for creating the digital environments that framed the experience. This meant imagining the harbourside town and building oceans that felt vast, eerie and angst-ridden – echoing the atmosphere of Melville’s original text.
Because the ocean features in almost every scene, it became the starting point for the visual design. I tested different software until I found Blender’s Ocean Modifier, a simulation tool that transforms a flat mesh into realistic waves, crests and wakes. It allowed me to dial up the choppiness and scale to match the intensity of each scene.
The whale itself was the hardest thing to get right. Early in the process, we made a decision that it should rarely reveal itself fully, but remain a form looming above the audience, more felt and heard than seen. The moment it does surface, just enough for its eye to meet yours, is a quiet, deeply moving beat in the piece.
Inclusive expression
Immersive theatre has historically been among the least accessible art forms; its power often lies in sensory qualities that standard access solutions struggle to accommodate. As a 3D artist, you tend to think of the landscape as the final layer; here, it was just the beginning.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the project was watching our visual worlds becoming a canvas for Ben Glover’s creative captioning, developed in collaboration with deaf, deafened and hard-of-hearing artists and audiences. Rather than relying on static subtitles confined to a fixed corner of a screen, this approach integrated text directly into the visual aesthetics of a live performance.
For me, being part of a team that uses individual crafts to ensure no one is left on the margins is the point of making art in the digital age. Ultimately, inclusivity is what allows immersive work like this to reach its full potential: inviting more people into the experience.
I would like to credit Visual Effects Supervisor Joseph Whitmore and Creative Technologist Rian Stephens, as well as Helen Skiera, Phillip Kay and Shankho Chaudhuri for their work on the sound, score and the physical set. They have all made The Whale possible.
Engage with the artist
Learn more about The Whale and other experiential storytelling projects at riyamahajan.com/the-whale
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Riya Mahajan, FRSA is a London-based 3D artist and visual designer.
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