Watercolors

The National WWII Museum

Meet the Magic Portrait

Transforming historical grayscale prints into colorized cinemagraphs, Luminary’s novel Magic Portraits are completely unique hybrid displays that combine printed media, light guides, and pixel-mapped backlighting to achieve a visual effect unlike anything in existence.

Bringing Powerful Historical Portraits to Life

Inspired by the National WWII Museum’s Find the Extraordinary Inside campaign, Watercolors is about the power of undiscovered potential. Two moments suspended in achromous time spring to life in a vibrant tapestry of color and movement, revealing a new perspective on two incredible wartime photographs and the heroes who had no choice but to discover the extraordinary inside of themselves.

Honoring Aviation History

Each Magic Portrait showcases the remarkable barriers broken by previously marginalized aviators during the Second World War. These extraordinary heroes defied insurmountable odds, rewriting history with their courage and determination. Watercolors pays tribute to their legacy by forging a deeper connection to their sacrifices, ensuring their stories resonate with a new generation for years to come.

Rising to the Challenge

Initially conceived as a projection-mapping experience, Watercolors was nearly scrapped due to vibration, safety, and ambient light concerns in the unforgiving international airport terminal. These constraints pushed Luminary to spend more than two years developing our proprietary Magic Portrait technology, ultimately achieving an effect more vibrant and impactful than traditional projection.

Technically Sophisticated

Magic Portraits are not digital screens, rather complex assemblies of printed media and acrylic diffusers illuminated by 30,000 addressable LEDs. The physical geometry of each portrait is determined by the image itself, with individual pixel regions separated by Luminary’s proprietary animated spline. The massive 30’ wide active display area can produce highly complex animations at 60fps, and all content can be easily managed from any web browser.

One of a Kind Activation

Hand-crafted with precision and care, each Magic Portrait is a masterfully meticulous one-off art piece. Thousands of unique components across an array of materials were created to mirror the unique contours of each photograph, resulting in a beautifully bespoke activation unlike any other.