Inside the Église des Trinitaires in the southern town of Arles, where the photography festival Rencontres d'Arles opened on Monday, July 7, Brazilian artist Igi Lola Ayedun – who is a painter, sculptor, writer and photographer – presented photographs created by training the generative artificial intelligence (AI) system Midjourney with her own portraits, explained Thyago Nogueira, curator of the "Futurs Ancestraux" ("Ancestral Futures") exhibition.
Just steps away, another Brazilian artist, Mayara Ferrao, depicted lesbian love stories of former Black slaves within the context of a fantasized 19th century. She also used AI to transform a body of text and images into "real" photographs, effectively bringing to life non-existent archives. To address the gaps in history – the undocumented LGBTQIA+ love stories – she "had to fight hard against the machine," explained Nogueira, discovering that the AI algorithms were profoundly racist. They are the only artists officially using AI in photography at Arles in 2025. "It's not yet mentioned in the Rencontres rules because it's still very new. However, it's clear that it must be indicated on the labels to inform visitors," said Christoph Wiesner, the event's director.
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