Flamingos Painting

Announcements that Elon Musk's Neuralink company is developing a brain-computer interface inspired my seventh collection. Neuralink’s plan is to access the human brain via a tiny hole. This small hole would allow a small chip and its associated wiring to be implanted into the brain. The chip will get power from and communicate with wireless hardware located behind the ear, much like a cochlear implant. Despite claims of the positive effect on humanity that such technology could bring, my response was: “This has to be a joke!” (especially since Musk had previously warned against the threat of artificial intelligence). To me, the idea of a brain implant that would allow us to connect directly to the internet at all times is a joke on humanity – and this is the theme that I explore in my collection. In “Glitches of the Future”, I envision an unsettling future in which humans lose their humanity as they “merge” with artificial intelligence. I portrayed tech-enabled humans as “jokers”, ridiculous in their need to be online 24/7. With information fed straight to their brains, it made me think perhaps they do not need eyes or ears, or a mouth even – in fact, they could be people without any senses. Paintings in the series ask of the viewer: How would such humans function in their relationships with other people, nature and pets in the future? Depicted living in a colourful world but connected permanently to the internet, to show how disconnected they are from their surroundings and those around them, I used “glitchy” effects to show them fading away from other people, or disconnecting from nature. Whether they are with their partner, their pet or alone, I want to show how their attention is directed within. Having surrendered their feelings and faculties to A.I, with the potential to malfunction like a computer, the images suggest that they are the glitches of the future.