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Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to look through my work. It means a lot to me. In the top right corner of this page you will find a drop down menu with links to an about page, selected works, blog and more.
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Sending you my best,
Aarati

I KNEW THAT IF I WALKED IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS, IT WOULD BECOME A RITUAL


2021 - Code, Cyanolumen Prints, Video

For this work, I developed a machine learning model based on my own family photographs that is able to create its own images that combine and emulate characteristics of my family photos. I think of the model's remixing and approximating as a metaphor for personal and generational memory. I feel that our understanding of the past is always an approximation. Names are forgotten, moments are conflated with other ones. Memory is something that mutates over time and over generations. I think of this at times, as less of a fault and more of a healing fluidity that allows us to process the past in a way that's enmeshed with the context of the present.

The form of this work is a video piece and series of prints. For the video, family members were asked to speak about specific photographs. Images generated from the machine learning model are animated using footage from these interviews. The facial expressions mimic the original expressions of the family member and the audio is from their original voice. The photographs that are the subject of the interviews are also shown alongside the speaker. Surrounding the video, are prints of the generated images mixed with actual family photographs.

You can read more about my process in this written piece.


video video still: a computer desktop with a window showing a photograph of two women and another window showing a fuzzy/painting-like image of a woman's face. video still: a computer desktop with a window showing a photograph of four men and another window showing a fuzzy/painting-like image of a person's face. still from video video still: a computer desktop with a window showing a photograph of several people and another window showing a fuzzy/painting-like image of a man's face. still from video close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints. Appears to be a young woman's face. close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints. Appears to be a young child's face close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints. Appears to be a young person's face. close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints. Appears to be a man's face. close-ups of cyanotype and lumen prints A man with headphones on watches a television screen surrounded by lumen prints and photographs installation at Center for Book Arts several framed images on a wall. Some are lumen prints of generated faces and some are real family photographs. installation at Center for Book Arts

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