Mayara Ferrão’s Blueprint for Decolonial AI Imagery

No stranger to the tensions underlying the usage of AI in visual art, Mayara Ferrão is at the forefront of a bold artistic revolution, exploring how artists can use AI to challenge the biases entrenched in mainstream imagery. Through her lens, feminist and queer aesthetics dismantle patriarchal narratives, reimagining identity and inclusion in a rapidly digitizing world.

The lack of diversity in the arts industry has long been an issue for non-white communities. In galleries, museums and libraries, the faces and stories represented are overwhelmingly pale as limestone. This hegemony is so pervasive that we have come to accept it as the norm. However, disruptors like Brazilian artist Mayara Ferrão challenge us to rethink what we know. With a unique vision and a powerful narrative, using image generative tools, Ferrão recreates art through an intersectional lens that deconstructs notions of sexuality, gender, class and race. Through her stunning portraits, she redefines the use of artificial intelligence and amplifies stories that have always existed but were silenced by racism and colonialism. 

As a Black, queer and feminist visual artist, Ferrão leads a movement that challenges and transforms traditional visual culture while reconceptualizing notions of affection within queerness. Works like ‘Lua de Mel’ (Honeymoon) and ‘Album de Esquecimentos’ (Album of Forgettings), combining tenderness, technology and AI, push the boundaries of queer and feminist aesthetics while questioning the algorithms that shape perception and artificial image creation. In a world where AI often replicates socio-political biases, Ferrão’s work is a vital disruption, one that reckons with these biases...

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