Photo credit, MALIK AFEGBUA/SLICKCITY
Artwork generated by artificial intelligence (AI) has become a source of controversy, but Nigerian filmmaker and artist Malik Afegbua argues that it can inspire us to create a better real world – and a more stylish one for older people.
At first glance, her images appear to have been taken on the edge of a fashion catwalk, but these models are not real people.
These images are the fruit of Afegbua's imagination and artificial intelligence software, and show models of a certain age wearing beautiful clothes.
He knew he had created something special after posting them on social media. Especially after they caught the attention of the Oscar-winning costume designer behind the Black Panther films, Ruth Carter. “This is so awesome!!,” she wrote on Instagram.
End of Recommended Articles:
Photo credit, MALIK AFEGBUNA/SLICKCITY
The series of images, titled Fashion Show For Seniors, sparked thousands of similar comments.
With over 100,000 likes for the photos on social media, Afegbua's work has clearly made an impact in the real world. But questions remain about whether computer-generated work is a threat to human creativity. Ethical problems also arise.
The artist, however, takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach.
We're about to begin the Zoom interview, with Afegbua sitting in his office in Lagos, Nigeria, when his two-year-old son demands some attention.
End of Most read
Verified information at your fingertips
Click here and subscribe!
End of WhatsApp Promotion
"He was born smart and everything he does is very technological. He already knows how to use cell phones and iPads," he says proudly.
It's clear he's passing on his love of technology and art to his son, but what inspired this business school graduate to pursue a creative career?
“Someone gave me a camera as a gift and that’s when it took off.”
He became a filmmaker and now produces commercials, documentary films and virtual reality exhibitions. He also embraced the emergence of AI as a new driving force in art.
With his series of fashion shows, he saw an opportunity to challenge what he saw as the marginalization of older people in society and wanted to challenge perceptions around aging.
“I’ve never seen a fashion show for older people, but they exist – so why not?”
An obvious objection is that there are real old people, and real fashion designers, who could have been photographed in the real world.
But for Afegbua, it is the aspirational message behind the images that is crucial.
He thinks they can make people think: “What if we started doing things this way?”
There has been some backlash over the use of AI in art, particularly over questions about whether computers can truly replicate human creativity, but Afegbua sees it as an exciting opportunity for artists to evolve.
The AI image software uses either keywords (called prompts) suggested by the artist, or uploaded photos, to create an image from that information.
What Afegbua says he does with his work is teaches AI to become more creative and, in return, he makes new discoveries.
"Artificial intelligence learns from us and learns from the World Wide Web. I'm trying to learn from it too. I'm trying to learn how to talk to it, how to communicate better to get exact results from it."
For the seniors fashion show photos, Afegbua went back and forth with several AI image generators – he uses three different ones to get varying results – to find a look that perfectly suited his "models."
"I am a fashion lover, and I always like to experiment. I wanted to mix traditional African Nigerian fashion with something futuristic, Afro-futuristic."
Another series of photos, which he calls his Fiction series, also draws on an idea of the future - although dating the world he created to 250,000 years ago.
Galvanized by the styles of Black Panther's Wakanda army and his new Hollywood friend, Ruth Carter, the collection of images depicts the people of Ngochola, an imagined ancient African civilization.
"They can talk to machines with their minds because they've deciphered different codes. They're very technologically advanced in the sense that they understand how to mix biology with, you know, technology, and combine them together," he says of the people who live in Ngochola.
It's clear that Afegbua is a strong advocate for the use of AI in art, but he acknowledges that concerns about its use may be valid.
Recently, there have been complaints that artists' original works are used without acknowledgment as source material and then manipulated.
This is not Afegbua's method, but he knows that AI can be used in this way.
“When it comes to AI, there are a lot of ethical issues with it stealing other people's work to create lots of different things,” he admits. “It’s a tool – and any tool can be used unethically.”
Demand for AI-generated images shows no signs of waning, with the hashtag #AIfilter racking up 1.3 billion views on TikTok, where users uploaded selfies in exchange for a new computer-generated image of themselves.
Afegbua is an optimist when it comes to the use of technology in art.
"I don't think technology has a finite lifespan. I think it can only get better, because the algorithms keep getting better. The engines keep getting better.
“I feel like this is going to help shape the narrative and the intentional image of Africa now, because it makes things much more accessible.”
With this in mind, Afegbua plans to continue the development of the Elder series.
He wants to use AI technology to help reimagine what's possible today and in the future.
All images are property of Malik Afegbua/SlickCity.
Discover more
Look!
End of Look!
