Getting Feedback on my use of AI images at a Work in Progress Show
Last month, I had the pleasure of exhibiting in a work in progress show. Unlike a ‘typical’ exhibition where the work you see on display is finished and ready for public viewing; a work in progress show allows artists to gather feedback on something they’re still working on.
I decided to showcase part of my Lost Names series, which is a tribute to the women in our family history who have influenced our lives, but are often forgotten — especially as we usually don’t have their last names to remember them by.
I started the series with my great-grandmother; Minnie Julian. I used genealogy websites to research her life, blending my faint memories of her — like a cherished plum tree — with concrete details of births, marriages and deaths.
Without any photos to guide me, the next step was to use AI to imagine how she and her life might have looked. With each image I created, I was trying to capture who she was. Did she play in the streets of London as a child? How might she have looked on her wedding day?
It was the feedback on the use of AI in the work that I was particularly interested in. This is the first (and possibly only) time I’ve used it and I wanted to know if people would like the AI element, or if I should create imagery using found photographs instead.
The original presentation of ‘Lost Names: Julian’ (for the show All of the things none of the time) featured found vintage frames, displayed on a site-specific table. Placed on top of lace doilies, I wanted the installation to evoke how my great-grandmother might have displayed her own photographs in her home.
For the ‘Trial and Error’ work in progress show, I recreated each vintage frame out of cardboard and attached them to wallpaper. Wondering if perhaps Minnie preferred to have her family photos on the wall, rather than on a table.
I was really pleased with the result and shipped it off to the ASC Gallery, located in the beautiful Old Court House in Lambeth, London. Unfortunately, thanks to Parcel Force, only one of my packages arrived. This meant that while I had the images and the frames, the wallpaper that was meant to be the backdrop was missing.
But the show must go on and thankfully, the curator was able to display the work, even though it wasn’t as I had originally envisioned. It was wonderful to be part of the show, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped make it happen.
Installation shot kindly taken by Phoebe Wingrove
The show featured work from thirty artists and the theme was ‘trial and error’ which apparently extended to delivery services as well. But I suppose that’s all part of the magic on art-making. The feedback on the work was interesting, people liked the idea behind the images and were intrigued by the use of AI. It has given me a lot to think about in terms of how to take the work forward.