Habeeb Mohammed Abu-Futtaim
-- Info
-- Blog
Subjected Subjects (2022-present)
180 x 140 cm (each, approx.)Acrylic on canvasThis series of paintings, drawings and images began with critically examining AI-generated imagery, using algorithmically produced visuals as reference points. These images, drawn from datasets steeped in Western media and pop culture, reflect the persistent bias and misleading cultural representations and are often absurd yet honest in their reflection of the Western imagination of the Arab world. By manipulating these generated images and creating new images I examine biases embedded within algorithmic processes—biases that mirror the historical legacies of Orientalist representation. I intend to push the absurdity of these images further with my intervention.
The works oscillate between familiarity and estrangement: for Western audiences, the images resonate with recognizable tropes, serving as a satirical mirror of their own cultural projections. For viewers from the region, however, the abstraction of specific markers evokes an unsettling ambiguity— images vaguely familiar yet wholly incomprehesible. This deliberate vagueness disrupts the coherence of identity, revealing how artificial intelligence, as both medium and metaphor, amplifies reductive narratives. Through this process, I interrogate not only the content of representation but also the mechanisms of image production in the digital age.