What are imaginary friends

Our imaginary friends may appear to us as dinosaurs, sounds or they may be
based on unmet dating app matches, Instagram influencers, crushes, rockstars, characters from books, films or even politicians (parasocial).

Sometimes they are spiritual entities. They may be trees we talk to, toys we cuddle (anthropomorphization), landscapes or planets (paracosms). They can take many forms. Imaginary friends are not just for children. Socializing and companionship are basic human needs. Humans at any age have an ability to socialize when alone.
This ability makes us special.

Your imaginary friend here

Considering this wider understanding of what imaginary friends can be, you will
be asked to describe an imaginary friend you have experienced, or are experiencing in your life. Think about one you would like to describe. All they need to be your imaginary friend is that your time socializing with them is mostly imagined
(95% or more) and they feel friendly toward you.

The description you share here will be included in the Archive of Imaginary Friends so we ask that you be truthful about your experiences, both for the accuracy of the archive and for the value of your own self-reflection.

A small selection of the Archive will be displayed at the WA Museum Boola Bardip in the coming months. A more comprehensive display - a digital imaginary friend world - will be exhibited at a later date. Some of the imaginary friends in the digital world will be based on material in the Archive.

By agreeing to participate you consent to grant licence for your content to be used, reproduced and communicated anonymously in the Imaginary Friend Archive and in the Imaginary Friend World projects.

You will remain anonymous and any names mentioned in your description will be changed in the Archive to protect the privacy of yourself and others (just in case they are based on real people who also may want privacy).

Your imaginary friend

What is your imaginary friends name?
If they don't have one please give them one for now.

Appearance

What does your imaginary friend look like:
How old do you think they are? Are they human, animal, object, a place? Alternatively, do they lack a visual appearance altogether? Please include as much detail about your imaginary friend as you can recall.

Personality

Share key details about their personality:
Start with a dozen of their personality traits Eg. "femme, butch, sarcastic, so on". Is this behavior consistent? What is their self perception? What are other areas of their personality are worth mentioning?

Your interactions

How do they generally interact with you:
What kind of things do they do or say with you, or others? How often are they around? If you have any additional special unique moments with your imaginary friend which you would like to share please do.

Sound

What kind of noises do they make:
Can you describe the tone or texture of their voice? Do they speak a language?
Is it a language you understand? Do they make a sound when moving around,
or when staying still? Please add any details that come to your mind.
If they are usually silent please say so.

Movement

How does your imaginary friend move around:
Do they stay in one place? Can they move? Do they move from place to place
or do they just appear and disappear at whim? Do they walk, fly, float, teleport
or grow up from the ground? Please describe some of the ways you remember them moving.

Presence

Did you feel their presence in other ways other than seeing or hearing them?
Describe how their presence felt to you and how you know its them.

Based on

Do you think your imaginary friend was based on someone, or something, or several someones or somethings you knew - or saw somewhere else in your life? What do you think the differences are and did this change over time?
How did they change and were you changing too?

Places you saw them

Where were you when you saw them?
Eg. The location you were in the real world:

Please describe some of the real spaces they appeared in:
Eg. "Small bathroom with blue tiles, bedroom with Metallica posters,
garden with fruit trees, at a wooden dinner table with family".

Your age at the time

Your feelings towards them

How do you feel about them? What do they bring out in you?
Also how do you feel their presence in other ways:

Why do you think they appeared

Why do you think they appeared or disappeared at certain moments in your life? Were there things that your friend could do that you or others could not? Is there anything in particular which you needed from them:

Draw your friend

Ok we're almost done!
Please pick up the stylus attached to the side of the touch screen.
Then as best you can draw your friend here. Using the pen to sketch out an image with the lines and overall shape of your friend: