Category: Research

Artful Image Processing and Algorithmic Drawing

by Lazarus Chan

Having set up the object detection pipeline, I proceeded to the image processing stage, where the raw visual data and the model’s outputs are transformed into a more artistic representation. My process involved several key steps. First, I applied edge detection algorithms to the video frames. This technique identifies points in a digital image where the brightness changes sharply, effectively outlining the shapes and contours of objects in the scene. Next, I inverted the black and white colour, creating a stark, high-contrast visual style. Finally, I took the bounding boxes generated by the YOLO detection model and redrew them onto this processed image. This layering of machine perception over a stylised version of reality creates a compelling visual dialogue between the actual scene and the AI’s interpretation of it.

Processing Perceptions with YOLO and the COCO Dataset

by Lazarus Chan

With the video pipeline established, I turned my attention to processing the visual data using a combination of powerful tools. The core of this stage is the YOLO (You Only Look Once) object detection model. YOLO is a state-of-the-art, real-time object detection system that identifies and classifies objects in a single pass of an image, making it incredibly fast and efficient. For this project, I am intentionally using the model with the pre-trained COCO (Common Objects in Context) dataset. The COCO dataset is a large-scale collection of images depicting common objects in everyday scenes and is a standard benchmark for training and evaluating computer vision models.

My goal is not to achieve flawless object recognition but rather to play with the inherent “mistakes” and misinterpretations the machine makes. The default COCO dataset is perfectly suited for this, as its generalised training can lead to incorrect predictions when applied to novel or ambiguous scenes. To manipulate the image data, which is essentially a collection of pixels, I am using NumPy (Numerical Python). NumPy is a fundamental library for scientific computing in Python that allows for efficient manipulation of large, multi-dimensional arrays and matrices—the very structure that represents digital images.

What is Object Detection?

Object detection is a field of computer vision and image processing concerned with identifying and locating instances of objects within images and videos. Unlike simple image classification, which assigns a single label to an entire image, object detection models draw bounding boxes around each detected object and assign a class label to it, providing more detailed information about the scene.

What are NumPy and the COCO Dataset?

  • NumPy: A Python library that provides support for large, multi-dimensional arrays and matrices, along with a collection of mathematical functions to operate on these arrays. In image processing, an image is treated as a 3D array (height, width, colour channels), making NumPy an indispensable tool for any pixel-level manipulation.
  • COCO Dataset: Standing for “Common Objects in Context,” this is a massive dataset designed for object detection, segmentation, and captioning tasks. It contains hundreds of thousands of images with millions of labelled object instances across 80 “thing” categories and 91 “stuff” categories, providing a rich foundation for training computer vision models.

Objects Detectable by the COCO Dataset:

The COCO dataset can identify 80 common object categories, including:

  • People: person
  • Vehicles: bicycle, car, motorcycle, airplane, bus, train, truck, boat
  • Outdoor: traffic light, fire hydrant, stop sign, parking meter, bench
  • Animals: bird, cat, dog, horse, sheep, cow, elephant, bear, zebra, giraffe
  • Accessories: backpack, umbrella, handbag, tie, suitcase
  • Sports: frisbee, skis, snowboard, sports ball, kite, baseball bat, baseball glove, skateboard, surfboard, tennis racket
  • Kitchen: bottle, wine glass, cup, fork, knife, spoon, bowl
  • Food: banana, apple, sandwich, orange, broccoli, carrot, hot dog, pizza, donut, cake
  • Furniture: chair, couch, potted plant, bed, dining table, toilet
  • Electronics: tv, laptop, mouse, remote, keyboard, cell phone
  • Appliances: microwave, oven, toaster, sink, refrigerator
  • Indoor: book, clock, vase, scissors, teddy bear, hair drier, toothbrush

Weaving a World Model with Reinforcement Learning Concepts

by Lazarus Chan

With a large dataset of generated policies, the next step is to import them back into the primary software application that displays the 360-degree video. This integration allows the dynamically generated rules to influence the visual output or behaviour of the system in real-time. My use of the term “policy” is a deliberate nod to its origins in the field of Reinforcement Learning (RL), a concept dating back to the 1990s. In RL, a policy is the strategy an agent employs to make decisions and take actions in its environment. It is the core component that dictates the agent’s behaviour as it learns through trial and error to maximise cumulative reward. By generating policies based on visual input, my system is, in a sense, creating its own world model—a simplified, learned representation of its environment and the relationships within it. This process echoes the fundamental principles of how an AI agent learns to react to and make sense of the real world, a topic I have delved into in more detail in some of my earlier writings.

Generating AI Policies from Object Proximity

by Lazarus Chan

In a more experimental turn, I developed a separate piece of software to explore the concept of emergent behaviour based on the object detection output. This program uses a Large Language Model (LLM) to generate “policies” when objects from the COCO dataset are detected in close proximity on the screen. The system calculates the normalised distance between the bounding boxes of detected objects. This distance value is then fed to the LLM, which has been prompted to generate a policy or rule based on the perceived danger or interaction potential of the objects being close together. For instance, if a “person” and a “car” are detected very close to each other, the LLM might generate a high-alert policy, whereas a “cup” and a “dining table” would result in a benign, functional policy. This creates a dynamic system where the AI is not just identifying objects, but also creating a narrative or a set of rules about their relationships in the environment.

Setting the software with 360-Degree Vision

by Lazarus Chan

The initial phase of this project involved tackling the technical groundwork required to process 360-degree video. I began by using OpenCV, a powerful open-source computer vision library, to stitch together the two separate video feeds from my 360-degree camera. OpenCV is an essential tool for real-time image and video processing, providing the necessary functions to merge the hemispheric views into a single, equirectangular frame. After successfully connecting the camera to my computer, I set up a basic Python workspace within my integrated development environment (IDE). The next step was to write a script that could access the camera’s video stream and display it in a new window, confirming that the foundational hardware and software were communicating correctly. This setup provides the visual canvas upon which the subsequent layers of AI-driven interpretation will be built.

Embracing the Algorithmic Uncanny

by Lazarus Chan

I am revisiting a creative process that has captivated my interest for some time: enabling an agent to perceive and learn about its environment through the lens of a computer vision model. In a previous exploration, I experimented with CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training), which led to the whimsical creation of a sphere composed of text, a visual representation of the model’s understanding. This time, however, my focus shifts to the YOLO (You Only Look Once) model. My prior experiences with YOLO, using the default COCO dataset, often yielded amusingly incorrect object detections—a lamp mistaken for a toilet, or a cup identified as a person’s head. Instead of striving for perfect accuracy, I intend to embrace these algorithmic errors. This project will be a playful exploration of the incorrectness and the fascinating illusions generated by an AI model, turning its faults into a source of creative inspiration.

* visualization using CLIP and Blender for artwork “Golem Wander in Crossroads”

Ultralytics YOLO

https://docs.ultralytics.com

Ultralytics YOLO is a family of real-time object detection models renowned for their speed and efficiency. Unlike traditional models that require multiple passes over an image, YOLO processes the entire image in a single pass to identify and locate objects, making it ideal for applications like autonomous driving and video surveillance. The architecture divides an image into a grid, and each grid cell is responsible for predicting bounding boxes and class probabilities for objects centered within it. Over the years, YOLO has evolved through numerous versions, each improving on the speed and accuracy of its predecessors.
(Text from Gemini-2.5-Pro and edited by artist)

CLIP

https://github.com/openai/CLIP

CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training), developed by OpenAI, is a neural network that learns visual concepts from natural language descriptions. It consists of two main components: an image encoder and a text encoder, which are trained jointly on a massive dataset of 400 million image-text pairs from the internet. This allows CLIP to create a shared embedding space where similar images and text descriptions are located close to one another. A key capability of CLIP is “zero-shot” classification, meaning it can classify images into categories it wasn’t explicitly trained on, simply by providing text descriptions of those categories.

(Text from Gemini-2.5-Pro and edited by artist)

COCO

https://cocodataset.org/#home

https://docs.ultralytics.com/datasets/detect/coco

COCO (Common Objects in Context), is a large-scale object detection, segmentation, and captioning dataset. It is designed to encourage research on a wide variety of object categories and is commonly used for benchmarking computer vision models. It is an essential dataset for researchers and developers working on object detection, segmentation, and pose estimation tasks.

(Text from Ultralytics YOLO Docs)

Return to Earth: Buzz Aldrin’s Autobiography

by Leah Clements

A book standing spine-up on a dark cherry wood surface. It is old and beaten up, worn-out blue, with faded gold lettering that just about reads: RETURN TO EARTH. More text underneath and to the side are illegible. It casts a monolithic shadow in front of itself.

I read Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography ‘Return to Earth’ in 2020/1 as part of my research for The Siren of the Deep – a solo show I did at Eastside Projects in Birmingham. The arc of it has stayed with me ever since, and is a part of this work too, so I’ve come back to it now. He describes his whole life leading up to the moon landing – achieving excellence in every stage of the specific path he’d cut out for himself (or sometimes by others), until this extreme pinnacle of achievement – something no-one else had ever done before himself and Niel Armstrong – a transcendence so astounding it had previously barely been imaginable. But then what? This is the bit I’m interested in. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital, because the depression that followed was too much to cope with. Because, what do you do after you’ve landed on the moon? 

I think this is the hole that apophany fills: the absence of epiphany.

An open book. On the left page is a black and white photo of an astronaut in their suit. In the reflection of their helmet is the sketchy figure of someone else, or perhaps just some equipment. The horizon in the reflection and behind the astronaut is black, meeting the edge of the moon they’re standing on. On the right page is text in a dated font which reads ‘RETURN TO EARTH, Colonel Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., with Wayne Warga, Random House, New York.’ A white hand holds the book open, a milky painted thumbnail pins down the left page at the bottom. The book is resting on a white surface.

The Dream Pool Backrooms

by Leah Clements

A computer generated image of a room covered in white tiles, from ceiling to walls to floor. In its centre is a circular hole in the ceiling through which a pillar extends, and a staircase spirals around. The room is half full of turquoise water. In the background, a tunnel leads elsewhere.

Since I went to Bath, I’ve been dreaming about its backrooms. Divots in sandy stone filled with green water that I can slide my arm into, an exact fit. Semi-organic cave networks getting darker and deeper, pools of water deep and shallow suspended and plunging at different levels.

Do you know about The Backrooms? They’re this concept of liminal spaces, usually devoid of living beings, that you can enter by leaving reality. There’s a Dream Pool genre of Backrooms that I’ve been following for a while, and earlier this year a game: Dreamcore, came out which holds a lot of these to explore. There’s something cyclical about recognising these as a pocket of your subconscious mind, then taking the images back into your sleep…

Another entirely tiled room. These tiles are pastel pink, and in the centre of the room is a hexagon shaped pool full of water. The room follows its shape and two doorways are opposite us, on two of the sides of the shape. One leads to darkness, it looks like a stairway downstairs. The other has a staircase upstairs, and an orange rectangular light from an unknown source illuminates it.
Another tiled space, this one dark and gloomy. It's the corner of a swimming pool from above, where the metal ladder leads into the water. It plunges down into an unrealistic depth, mysterious and dark.
A room in a 1960s minimalist style. An expanse of plain floor and ceiling space, marked only by the reflections of ripples of an oblong pool on the left. These reflections also pick out a large sphere at the back of the room, a plain sofa on the right, and some more ornamental sphere shapes, much smaller. Above the pool is a black expanse, perhaps a night sky, perhaps a blank ceiling.
A sunlit white tiled interior. The walls curve in a wavy line, a long thin pool following them, and a pillar that seems architecturally functionally useless. At least, according to waking logic.
A dark underground space, all tiled. It looks like a subway or somewhere corporate and abandoned - but only recently - a still living plant in a plant box at the right. The kind you find outside an office block. A stairway upwards leads to darkness, and an ankle-deep measure of water pervades throughout, strangely purple, showing ripples of movement from nothing we can see capable of motion. It seems lit by a torch, whilst the edges recede into blackness.
A dark white tiled space with a winding thin pool lit by spotlights from above. A rubber ring floats on its surface next to a metal ladder leading into it.
A very creepy pool interior. An abandoned public swimming pool - a colourful spiral flume at the left, and a converted industrial looking ceiling with institutional lighting. But they don't fully light the space, it's a bit too dark to be comfortable, and unnervingly misty.
A sunlit white tiled interior, half full of turquoise water. Two doorways on different wall in front of us fall back into a never-ending series of doorways behind them.

REST without AI

by Lazarus Chan

This week, Hong Kong was battered by heavy rain, and I took the chance to take a breather and recharge. The last few weeks have been manic. I’ve been working on three software projects at once. The non-stop pace had left me totally overloaded, so this rain break was just what I needed. I decided to visit my wife home village, a recharging place in the middle of the city’s forests. The air smelt of earth, and the quiet beauty of the landscape was a nice change. I could feel the tension of my tightly wound days begin to unravel, replaced by a sense of calm that felt long overdue. The mountains were like silent guards, making me think about the balance between creativity and rest.

by Elora Kadir

I might have got myself a little stuck in my searches. I tried a few online image libraries… trawling the many pages of the Wellcome Collection’s catalogue which I still haven’t reached the end of.

I already have examples of what I would like from some of my previous work that I have shared so I’m giving myself a reminder that the task isn’t impossible. I am considering the thought that maybe I’m already surrounded by the images I’m looking for. For example, I have a mug with this John William Waterhouse painting on it.

A 19th-century painting depicting Saint Cecilia seated in a garden, eyes closed in serene contemplation, with an open book resting on her lap. Two angels kneel before her, one playing a violin and the other holding an instrument. Behind them, a stone balustrade overlooks a harbor with ships and distant mountains. The scene is filled with lush roses and greenery, evoking a peaceful, spiritual atmosphere.
Saint Cecilia (1895) by John William Waterhouse

Books on Drawing™️

by Elora Kadir

Wanted to include some phone images I took from a book on drawing people that I found in the local library. There are loads of them on drawing people, cats, dogs, flowers, buildings… It’s all very Drawing™️.

An image of an open book. The left page shows a man's trunk sketched and his head turned to the side. The right page includes a few sketches each focusing on different sections of the trunk.

A little fascinated by the eery “perfection” of it all. Especially in this book which was full of sketches and descriptions of muscles that make up a body part and how to combine it all together on a super athletic male body. It’s quite the opposite to what I was hoping to find when I set out on this search for images. It’s almost too healthy and tense. There’s no ease.

An image of an open book. The left pag has text explaining how different parts of the head come together. The right page includes a few sketches each focusing on different aspects of a head such as the skull and different perspectives.

A page from a book showing a drawing of a shoulder with every muscle clearly highlighted.

The Question: 11AUG2025

by Lazarus Chan

The modern AI, most prominently represented by the Large Language Models (LLMs), prompts a fundamental question: Does it contain consciousness? To pose the question another way, the original wellspring of the AI concept is found where brain scientists, computer scientists and mathematicians began to explore if consciousness itself could be understood as a mathematical or computational process, as a system. This inquiry delves into whether today’s advanced automation is merely sophisticated mimicry or a genuine step towards the sentient machines envisioned by pioneers of the field. As Noam Chomsky openly criticises the GPT model as a fake intelligence, a copycat only. Or is there an even deeper question: is there any form of computing that can capture the differences between intelligence, awareness and consciousness? Or we simply don’t understand our kind. Those three words are just a game of our language, a misconception; they never exist.

Zeitgeist

by Leah Clements

A low-res image of a roughly drawn, or maybe carved, golden sun shape with protruding rays, and a corona around it with more rays. The surface it’s carved into appears to be white or pale blue stone.

Still from Zeitgeist (2007)

This film was circulating the internet when I was a teenager. It’s a conspiracy theory-style documentary that connects recurring themes throughout many of the world’s most prominent religions, some still practiced, some not. We passed it between us like contraband, thinking we’d been given a clear-headed, logical way to understand much of the totality of human history.  I mean, we had been given a logic, but it was off.

A pixelated astrological wheel with images of the different star signs (the crab for cancer, the scales for libra, etc) in black on a mustard browny yellowish background. Over the top is a faint network of something white - maybe stars joined by lines? Labelled in green writing that we can’t read.

Aside from being fundamentally irrelevant to the actual point of religion, many of its claims are totally factually incorrect. For one thing they equate ‘the sun’ with ‘the son’ (referring to Horus, Jesus, and other figures) because said out loud, they’re the same word. In English. Which didn’t exist five thousand years ago. A quick check of the Aramaic and they don’t seem so related…

The sun | שמש | “shmash”

The son | בר | “bar”

A pixelated astrological wheel with images of the different star signs (the crab for cancer, the scales for libra, etc) in black on a yellow background. A glowing light has been layered on top, in the right hand corner of the diagram.

But now I worry I’m falling into an ancient rabbit hole. Can a deep debunking of a conspiracy theory become apophenic? I have to stop.

A low-res photo of an artwork, probably a mosaic. In orange, red and brown earth tones, a person in a headdress is at the centre, two cows, or maybe bulls, are to each side of her.

I find myself thinking about the warped, low-res audio and image of this film, and of the layered diagrams and crafted depictions of deities. It’s an aesthetic that I think is still with us, if a little updated. I’m very much holding it in mind as I work on this piece.

Apophany vs Epiphany

by Leah Clements

It’s a ‘collotype’, which basically looks like a fuzzy x-ray, of a pelvis. Smudgy black and white, it’s not immediately obvious to non-medically trained eyes what we’re looking at, but after a while it seems that it’s upside-down, with the little tail bone sticking upwards, hips curling inwards.

This is at the core of what I’m working on. 

Jenn Ashworth proposes the idea of apopheny vs epiphany in her 2019 memoir Notes Made While Falling. In the book, she describes a traumatic birth followed by a mental and physical unravelling. Part of this is apophenia – a kind of logic that connects patterns; names; numbers; anything, which consensus reality would say is not actually connected. Most often it’s applied as a pathology, often in reference to conspiracy theories. Jenn says ‘I can’t stop connecting things’, and rather than self-pathologising, sets this beside her religious background to think about this experience of apopheny alongside the experience of epiphany – the realisation of a profound and real truth. But how do you know which is happening within you?

This idea has been on my mind since I read the book (and reread it, and reread it), and it’s the heart of the work I’m making for Vital Capacities. The work I make here will also feed into a solo show of mine opening early next year, so it’s really good to be able to delve in deeply in this public way – a rare chance to be able to share the intricacies of a looottt of research, experimentation, and thought.

Image Credit: This image is featured on the front cover of ‘Notes Made While Falling’ More info: A woman’s pelvis after a pubiotomy – to widen the birth canal for a vaginal delivery of a baby. Collotype by Römmler & Jonas after a radiograph made for G. Leopold and Th. Leisewitz, 1908.

Image Description: It’s a ‘collotype’, which basically looks like a fuzzy x-ray, of a pelvis. Smudgy black and white, it’s not immediately obvious to non-medically trained eyes what we’re looking at, but after a while it seems that it’s upside-down, with the little tail bone sticking upwards, hips curling inwards.

Creative Process Initiation

by James Kong King-sin

https://chatgpt.com/share/cd501025-b4bc-43ce-a160-4c6a9bdc05ec

Yeah, so let’s do it in a different way. Let’s group it in, let’s just all of us trying to have a group chat with GPT. I just turn on the ChatGPT so we can have a conversation and then let’s see how is the capability. So, hey, GPT, we are a group of four people, five people. Yeah, and we are trying to experience or practice the creative process during our discussions. So, you can jump in to discuss anytime, but we may have several initial conversations or some ideas, and if you find it is a good time to step in, just tell me. All right, yeah, you can say, okay, if you’re ready.
ChatGPT
Okay, I’m ready! Let’s start your creative process discussion. Whenever you have an idea or want to bounce something off me, just let me know.

I think it is, um…
ChatGPT
It sounds like you’re still gathering your thoughts. What’s the main topic or project you’re working on today?

Yeah, today we have…
ChatGPT
Got it, you’re deciding on today’s focus. Are you thinking about brainstorming new ideas, planning a project, or something else?

Feel free to join. I mean, our friend is in a Zoom meeting, so they are trying to understand how is the capability of the AI tools, and I think this is a very handy way to demonstrate the creative process. But I would like to invite my friend to join our conversation too. Well, maybe you can tell how they can step in.
ChatGPT
Sure! Your friend can join the conversation at any time by simply sharing their thoughts or questions. If they have a specific idea or topic in mind, they can mention it, and we can discuss it together. Feel free to jump in whenever you’re ready!

Okay, maybe I just present my idea to my friend. I would like to invite ChatGPT as my companion and record my daily life, and it will become a diary or my personal journey. This journey will be a reference that creates a fiction character. For instance, it will be an instant me as a character, and then I will use this character as a… I will offer several backgrounds, let’s say it’s a sci-fi background or cyberpunk background or fantasy background, and it will fit in, become the main character of the story. What do you feel?
ChatGPT
That sounds like a fantastic and creative idea! Using ChatGPT to help record your daily life and then transforming that into a fictional character in various settings could make for a rich and engaging story. Do you have a specific background in mind to start with, like sci-fi, cyberpunk, or fantasy? Or would you like some help exploring different ideas?

Or could you give me several variations about the background of the story?
ChatGPT
Absolutely, here are a few variations you might like:

Sci-Fi Background: Your character lives in a futuristic city on Mars, where society is divided between the elite who live in towering glass skyscrapers and the working class who inhabit underground colonies. They uncover a secret about an impending alien invasion and must rally both classes to defend their home.

Cyberpunk Background: Set in a neon-lit megacity where mega-corporations control every aspect of life, your character is a hacker who discovers a conspiracy that could topple the corporate regime. They navigate the city’s dark alleys and high-tech surveillance systems to gather allies and fight for freedom.

Fantasy Background: In a world where magic is real but controlled by a powerful guild, your character is an ordinary person who stumbles upon a hidden magical artifact. This discovery thrusts them into a battle between the guild and a rebellion seeking to make magic accessible to all.

Post-Apocalyptic Background: After a global catastrophe, society has collapsed into scattered, warring factions. Your character is a scavenger who finds a relic of the old world that holds the key to rebuilding civilization. They must navigate dangerous territories and form uneasy alliances to achieve their goal.

Steampunk Background: In an alternate Victorian-era world powered by steam and clockwork, your character is an inventor who creates a machine that can change the course of history. They are pursued by secret societies and must travel across continents to protect their invention.

Do any of these settings inspire you?

Yeah, thank you. But I would like to take a pause here because I will jump back to the discussion with my friend and see how they feel.
ChatGPT
Of course! Take your time to discuss with your friend. When you’re ready to continue or if you need more ideas, feel free to let me know. Enjoy your conversation!

Womb Room: Using AI for previs

by Jameisha Prescod

In a previous post, I spoke about taking a response from someone describing what their womb would look like if it were a place and turning that into a prompt for AI.

As a refresher here is the prompt:

a photorealistic image of a room which looks like a lush garden inside which is representative of the uterus of someone with endometriosis

And here is the result:

Image Description

AI generated imagery of four hyper realistic photos of an interior design for the dreamy fairy tale bedroom in paradise, pink and green color palette, a lush garden full with flowers and plants surrounding it, magical atmosphere, surrealistic

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the results to be as close to what was in my mind as this. I was really impressed. I’m intrigued to know which part of these repsponses represents the “endometriosis” section of the AI prompt.

I really like option 3 because the round shape of draped pink fabrics sort of looks like a womb or vaginal opening. It’s definitely my favourite although I’m loving weird abstract furniture that is depicted at the back of option two.

Since I like option three the most, I decided to work on it a bit further.

Image Description

A collage of pink and green floral patterns, vines, and foliage surrounded by lush jungle foliage, with mirrors reflecting in the background. The scene is set at dawn or dusk, creating an ethereal atmosphere. This style blends natural elements with fantasy and surrealism, giving it a dreamy quality in the style of surrealist artists.

Here are examples of subtle variations of the original image

And here are examples of strong variations of the original image.

Image Description

A collage of four images depicting lush greenery, pink drapes, and exotic plants in an opulent setting. The style is a mix between hyper-realistic botanicals and surreal digital art, with vibrant colors and soft lighting creating a dreamy atmosphere. Each element has its own distinct visual narrative within the composition, showcasing a harmonious blend of nature’s beauty and modern aesthetics. This combination creates a visually stunning representation that sparks imagination.

I prefer the strong varations because the garden room looks more overgrown and wild, but still retains it’s beauty which feels closer to what the original response from the participant was saying.

Regardless of my preferences, I think my process will include me using all of these images as previs. I plan to then use 3D software inspired by all of the imagery seen here to create the scene. I’ll take features from all of the images as well as my own ideas that are closer to the original response from the participant to bring their “womb room” to life.

I’ll be honest though, the 3D production is exciting but also scary. I have a bit of imposter syndrome of whether I can actually deliver this. I sort of feel inferior to what Midjourney was able to create.

Human prompts and AI prompts

by Jameisha Prescod

I’ve just realised something.

The model I have been using to create this project is similar to the process of asking AI to generate imagery for me.

I am using a prompt to ask people living with chronic conditions to generate imagery about what their womb looks like.

The prompt is this central question: If your womb were a place you could visit, what would it look like?

The process for this project then asks the participants to generate abstract imagery in their brains about what their womb would look like if it were a place. They then communicate that to me via the written or spoken word.

I am then taking that response and turning it into a prompt for AI, allowing algorithms to generate digital imagery of what the participants were describing to me. I’m only now realising that I’ve sort of acted like an intermediary between the participant and Midjourney.

If I’m asking the participants a prompt that triggers them to generate imagery, am I treating them the same way as an AI algorithm? Is that ethical? These are all questions that are important to consider when working with people who are expressing intimate ideas about their bodies.

Womb Room: Turning early research into AI prompts

by Jameisha Prescod

Now to begin with my project Womb Room.

For a few years, I’ve been exploring a project called Womb Room. The idea is to ask a central question:

If your womb were a place you could visit, what would it look like?

I want people living with chronic conditions of the uterus and ovaries to creatively explore what their wombs would look like if they were real spaces we could visit as human beings. It’s been difficult because I struggle to know where to begin. How will I bring this project to life? I go between wanting the project to be VR and a physical installation that people can go to. Maybe it can be both?

The most intimidating thing for me is knowing whether I have the skills to do this. This is why it’s been really exciting to join this residency. After experimenting with AI in the previous posts, I decided to have my first go at seeing what it would produce in relation to the central question I plan to ask people who will participate in the project.

A few years ago, I asked a couple of people the question I mentioned above. I decided to use one of the responses I got and turn it into a prompt for Midjourney.

This was the original response. For reference, this person has endometriosis and is a yoga instructor and herbalist.

“I honestly think that my uterus and my ovaries and all of my little reproductive organs I feel like it’s a beautiful garden. I think it’s a gorgeous gorgeous garden. It’s lush, it’s fertile. It’s it’s just spectacular to behold. However, if I am not doing the right kind of gardening you know, like when I’m not doing the, the best in terms of staying on top of like diet and exercise and the things that I know help me to manage the inflammation…maybe my garden is becoming a little bit over on with thorns, or maybe there’s a few too many difficult weeds that need pruning.

I think when my endometriosis is flaring, and it’s not at its greatest, I like to imagine that maybe it’s just that I need to tend to the garden in a more sensitive way. Do a little pruning, maybe throw a little fertiliser on there. Maybe cut out some of the thorny rose bushes, you know. But I never like to imagine it as anything less than beautiful and fertile and just lush and gorgeous. Because I think, you know, despite what it may be doing that doesn’t feel ideal, it’s still this magical thing of complete, utter mastery that I just, I can’t help but like, be in awe of it and its beauty.”

I really love this response because it challenged my expectations. I assumed most of the people who would respond to the question I posed would give really intense and negative imagery, but this person described their womb as something beautiful regardless of how much pain it causes them.

I wanted this to be my first attempt and bringing my project to life.

Here is the prompt I created from the response above:

“a photorealistic image of a room which looks like a lush garden inside which is representative of the uterus of someone with endometriosis“a photorealistic image of a room which looks like a lush garden inside which is representative of the uterus of someone with endometriosis.”

It doesn’t quite encapsulate everything that was mentioned in the response above, however, it’s a good place to start. In my next post, I’ll share the imagery generated from the prompt and what I plan to do to bring my ideas to life for this project.

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