Frances Ryder

The Mysterious Dr Dannevill

Hjelmar Von Dannevill was a 20th-century Wellington queer woman, fraud and criminal.  This project aims to tell her story in an interactive website as a historic entry point into New Zealand history for 18-25-year-olds. New Zealand queer history is largely unknown to this demographic. Through storytelling, a key method in passing on history, the audience comes to understand a little more of the why, how and when of queer history. Giving them the ability to contextualize the future and respect the past. This project utilises web interaction and animation for storytelling. Alongside digital recreations of 20^th-century printing monochrome and colour techniques and typography. It draws from queer narratology and the traditional and non-traditional design systems in 21^st-century gender-non-conforming zines. Contrasting clean layouts, straight lines, and simple fonts with grid-breaking collages and texture that express the iconoclastic Hjelmar. Resulting in a multi-chapter horizontal scroll webpage adaptation of Hjelmar's story for a young modern audience.