OTOWN
A location-based poetry and archival storytelling platform
OTOWN (Over the Town) is a descendant-led digital humanities platform developed by Christell Victoria Roach that maps archival photographs, poetry,
oral history, and community memory onto historically Black landscapes through location-based augmented reality installations.
By embedding stories directly into place, OTOWN transforms neighborhoods
into living archives, where visitors encounter history through augmented reality while standing in the spaces where it unfolded.
The OTOWN Framework:
OTOWN operates through a simple framework connecting place, archive, and stories.
Each Installation Combines:
archival research
community engagement
literary storytelling
oral history
augmented reality technology
These materials are mapped onto historically significant locations,
allowing visitors to experience history within the landscape itself.
Rather than storing memory only within institutions, OTOWN preserves community history
directly in the places that produced it. Each exhibit can only be viewed on site. As an app,
OTOWN provides the platform for sustained engagement with history while in location.
This engagement takes shape in the form of tours, workshops, performances, events...etc.
Check out the April 2025 Overtown Walking Tour — a collaboration with O'Miami Poetry Festival!
Recognizing the "replicable model" used to build Ninth Street, My Street and "South of Monroe" —
OTOWN is currently expanding across South Florida with the help of undergraduate research assistants.
Current Installations & Research Sites
OTOWN installations are meant to be experienced in location. When visitors arrive at specific sites, archival content activates through the augmented reality interface. Each installation becomes a digital monument, preserving community memory
within the landscape where it occurred.
OTOWN is part of CVR’s doctoral research exploring Black geographies, archival storytelling, and freedom-making practices through poetry and immersive technology.
The project bridges:
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literary scholarship
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community archiving
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digital humanities
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immersive storytelling
