In an age where technology increasingly mediates our relationship with the world, can AI serve as a bridge between humanity and nature?
“New Youth” explores the fluidity of identity in the digital era by merging personal archives and machine learning. Using a diffusion model, I trained an AI on my childhood photos and the landscapes of my hometown. This process introduces "noise" to the images, fragmenting and eroding their original form, before the AI reconstructs them. Through this cycle of deconstruction and reassembly, the boundaries between self and environment dissolve, revealing a space where personal memory and natural elements coexist.
The resulting imagery reimagines my younger self, intertwined with the textures and patterns of nature. Each image renders a feeling of oneness with the world, blending human identity with the organic and the digital. By revisiting my childhood through the lens of AI, “New Youth” reflects on the notion of "being twenty"—a stage of life where identities are fluid, connections are redefined, and the search for harmony with oneself and the world takes center stage. This project offers an artistic meditation on how technology might not only reflect but reshape the way we understand our place within the natural world.
