Introduction
From the 20th century to the current age, Black music across the African diaspora has had an astonishing influence on the development of modern music and will continue to be the foundation of music genres to come. The transportation of enslaved West Africans started in the 16th century by European Colonies to areas of North America, South America and the Caribbean islands which resulted in geographically separate African descent communities with unifying sounds & approaches directly inspired by African music practices, have kept these communities connected artistically. The need to preserve traditions, share stories of hardship, & express feelings about everyday Black life have resulted in the formation of music genres such as Jazz, Reggae, Rhythm & Blues, Hip-Hop, Soca, Cuban Rumba & many more. Over the past century, various Black communities have undergone voluntary migration to different nations furthering inspiration and fusions of music (e.g., The Jamaican Windrush generation in the UK). Broadening the artistic innovation of Black music to this day with the recent genre variants being embedded into chart-topping music.
Many Black artists across an array of disciplinary fields have been investigating the need to artistically connect the worlds of the African Diaspora either through clothing design, photography, fine art paintings or music composition. And through the works of artists such as Wales Grace Bonner, Samuel Fosso, Kerry James Marshall, and Solange Knowles, there is a great appreciation and acknowledgement of pan-African artistic expression and Black visibility in the arts. Currently, creative computing spaces lack visibility and voices of Black artists, this project aims to make a pan-African art contribution through a creative computing lens to enhance visibility in this specific art space. Artificial intelligence was chosen as the tool to execute these ideas due to its ability to push creative boundaries to places that a human cannot reach, it’s a tool that has notoriously been used to combine concepts/ideas which can be simplified to the term “combinational creativity” which is highly relevant to the concept of building pan-African art, where different sounds, cultures and art movements from across the world are intended to symbolically be combined. The use of audio visualisation is to add a visual enhancement to the AI music created, it’s an opportunity to celebrate the Black fine artists and their contributions while finding similarities and connections between their work.
Figure - Map of the African Diaspora
Social Mission
- Artistically connect the music of the African diaspora
- Bring positive visibility and representation of Black people in the computing / digital art space
- Openly celebrate and commence Black art/music
- Use artificial intelligence to expand the boundaries of Black expression
Section 1: Initial project inspiration & influences
In this section, I will cover the topics/artists/practitioners that influenced the synthesis of my main concepts for my graduate project. Despite some of these subjects residing outside of computing, many surround the need to preserve the creativity of the African Diaspora or represent blackness in a contemporary form. These subjects generated my initial personal thoughts on applying these ideas to an artificial intelligent/creative computing framework.
Wales Grace Bonner
Grace Wales Bonner, Creative director and founder of the brand Wales Bonner is a British-Jamaican fashion designer from South-East London. Her work surrounds topics on the hybridity of African diasporan style, challenging the current perception of Black masculinity and defining a new form of Black intellectualism & elegance. Her final project at Central Saint Martins, UAL in 2013 included her menswear graduate collection as well as a 10,000-word dissertation titled ‘Black on Black’ a study on creatives & thinkers who represented a new form of Black identity that disturb institutionalised notions of Blackness. Expressing the infinite possibility and fluidity of what it means to be Black, a concept that has been carried throughout her career thus far. This included studies on Charlie Parker, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kerry James Marshall, dissecting how these artists brought African traditions to western art forms to disrupt the conventions from within. In this dissertation, she directly quotes Amiri Baraka a quote that emphasises Bonner’s determination to speak to the African diaspora “Our terribleness is our survival as beautiful beings anywhere” despite the horrors that created the diaspora, there is a need to perverse the beauty involved in it. This would later become the foundation concept of her soon-to-be brand 'Wales Bonner'.
Since then, she’s earned numerous awards including Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards (2015), the LVMH Young Designer Prize (2016), Winner of the British Fashion Council/ Vogue Designer Fashion Fund (2019) and CFDA International Men's Designer of the Year (2021). And this year (June 2022) was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services in fashion. In her so far short but extremely accomplished career, her work has already become a symbol of Black luxury and heritage, this was further validated when the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle made a considered choice to wear a Wales Bonner belted trench dress in the official photo reveal of her child with Prince Harry.
Her collection's core principles are understanding European heritage frameworks and executing the ideals through an African lens. Grace states “it was about exploring the space between European ideals of opulence, elegance, and then something very real, very directly African.” Often her work is a result of deep exploration into visual culture, art, history, and sexuality surrounding the Black experience which defines her unique style. She not only takes direct inspiration from the styles birthed out of the diaspora but more importantly links together the fragmented worlds, observing connections that individuals may have not noticed before. There is a strong need to meet and connect worlds that have been aesthetically separated for social-political reasons. “I’m always really drawn to brands that have a specific heritage – classicism, in a way. When I create something, what I try to do is a meeting point between two worlds. I was interested in bringing tailoring sensibilities or an evening wear esthetic into sportswear – bringing that beauty to something that you can wear every day” With Grace's experience with traditional British Saville Row tailoring, she will apply these traditions to something otherworldly such as sportswear or Caribbean dancehall style that creates a contradiction that's almost rebellious to western constructs.
Despite the artistic expression of Grace Wales Bonner being executed through clothing design, I found that elements of her ideals inspired the foundation of my graduate project. I thought about the ways I could extract the need to express and connect the African diaspora through a creative computing lens. Bonner does an amazing job at referencing the past, not to be nostalgic or historical but to take references and pass them forward to become useful and impactful in the future. I pondered on that thought and concluded that the most relevant topic in creative computing to these ideals would be the subject of art & artificial intelligence. Machine learning has allowed us to combine an abundant number of images, audio, videos and just subjects in general, through large datasets to advance our capabilities of art creation. With the project objective being to express the musical connection between different Black communities, I thought it would be tremendously relevant as machine learning is often used as a collaborator to bring different subjects together to generate the ‘new’. With Bonner's philosophy in mind, I understood the importance of artificial intelligence allowing creators to take media from the past and combine that with the present to create art for the future, the brilliant world of tech is currently pushing boundaries on this subject with artists such as Refik Anadol expanding creative expression through AI. So, to conclude Bonner’s work synthesised my subject matter by allowing me to recognise the importance of preserving and expressing the creativity of the African diaspora as well as discovering the connection between AI and art, and its role in combining the past & present to generate the new.
Samuel Fosso
I was first introduced to the work of Cameroonian-born Nigerian Photographer Samuel Fosso through his contribution to a Janet Jackson Music video for her song ‘Got ’til It’s Gone Song’. A music video that was drenched with unique and powerful visual language depicting the Black experience through a recreation of apartheid-era South Africa. In this Music video, Fosso contributes by recreating his infamous and playful self-portraits. Samuel Fosso's notorious self-portraits were first devised at a young age when he recognised the importance of documenting and immortalising versions of himself not only to note what he looked like at a given time but to capture self-representation and aspects of his personality. In West Africa, it is commonplace to commission photographs of a baby from three months old, but no photographs as such exist of Fosso due to his physical disabilities (partial paralysis of the lower limbs), he states his mother thought “it was a waste of money” to commission a photograph of a disabled child. Fosso states due to this childhood experience, photography acts as “a form of therapy that has enabled me to bring about a sense of self and tell the world that I exist, that I am here. Self-portraits give me the opportunity to engage with my own biography.”
He began his self-portrait work at age 13, when he opened his own studio and was commissioned to photograph different occasions such as weddings, New Year celebrations and baptisms and with the leftover film, he would often take portraits to simply send to family members overseas in Nigeria to let them know that he was safe and well. His early portraits simply demonstrated an interesting curiosity in self-presentation; often using backdrops and experimenting with props, poses and costumes. Since then, the context of Fosso’s self-portraits became politically and socially charged often with a framework that investigates the African continent and the legacy of colonialism and globalisation that is still present in it to this day. Fosso’s work often repels the idea of ‘Afro-pessimism’, which is a diagnostic term created by the Nigerian art historian Okwui Enwezor. Afro-pessimism refers to the visual construction and consumption of the African continent by western media, often perceived as an otherworldly land filled with war, disease, poverty, and nothing else. Even when Africa is put into a slightly positive light with beautiful landscapes and stunning scenery, the people of these countries are often unseen. Furthering a false narrative that the people of Africa possess nothing of value to contribute to humanity. The work of Fosso was included in an exhibition curated by Enwezor (Snap Judgements: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, 2006), attempting to dismantle the epistemology of Afro-pessimism. Fosso highlights the importance of Black representation and reflection. His work often acts to push western expectations, giving the African identity more life and character instead reducing it to hardship, the idea of letting your presence be known in a positive light to empower his own personal identity as well as the people of Africa.
Fosso uses photography as a tool to uplift Black representation and that heavily influenced the concept of my project. At the moment, representation of the Black people is quite negative in the world of tech. From the lack of inclusivity (as of 2020, 67% of tech companies are comprised of less than 5% Black employees) and also when discussing the effects of advanced technology on Black communities. Last semester with the computational ethics module, I was exposed to ways artificial intelligence is currently exacerbating oppression within the Black population across the globe (Predictive policing, centring White people when designing AI products, etc.) The relationship between Black people and technology especially Artificial intelligence is extremely strained due to these reasons. Having a project that uses technology as a tool to uplift and empower Black people as opposed to contributing to our hardship and oppression would be a start in changing the narrative on Black people in tech. Like Fosso whose work attempts to push Afro-pessimism away, I would love to contribute to small strides towards rejecting these narratives in the world of computing and digital art. Our representation in the tech world shouldn’t consistently be surrounded by negative ideals.
African Spirits. 2008
African Spirits (2008) is a series of large-scale gelatine silver self-portraits, capturing the global ‘African spirits’. Fosso chose fourteen personalities from Africa and the diaspora, people who represented freedom, equality, and independence for Black people. The people he selected to portray in this piece played a significant role in supporting Black people on a political and social scale. It included imitation portraits of Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, etc. This piece was created to pay homage to those who supported Black rights, many of these icons had to sacrifice their finances, safety and even their life to commit to Black empowerment. Fosso created “African Spirits” to make sure their efforts are not forgotten.
This piece heavily contributed to my thought process for my graduate project. I feel with the advancements in the computing world, there are new fascinating ways to pay homage to the Black experience, Black people, our art, and our dedication to activism. “African Spirits” made me ponder on the ways to represent and find connection amongst the African diaspora and the importance of paying homage to immortalise our contribution to music and art.
Black Art: In the Absence of Light
A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self (1980), is a historical & political painting created by African American Kerry James Marshall, a Black figure painted on a black background with only teeth, a white shirt, and a pair of eyes that are visible, it is a portrait depiction of the main protagonist in Ralph Ellison’s, Invisible Man (1952). A story that expresses the psychological invisibility of Black people in America. which is heavily relevant to the invisibility of Black American artists that is still present and prolific in the world of fine art to this day. Black Art: In the Absence of Light (2021) is an HBO documentary film focusing on American Black artists and their struggle to gain visibility in the art world during the past centuries. It touches on the underrepresentation of Black artists, the lack of Black bodies as a subject matter, and the restricted nuance of the Black experience in the world of fine art which is caused by the institutionalised system in museums and spaces that exclude the work and involvement of Black people.
The documentary goes through various perspectives and nuances of the art world and African Americans' relation to it. The initial racial exclusion in the 1960s forced Black artists to form art alliances such as ‘Spiral’ to hold group exhibitions and discuss their contributions to politics and the civil rights movement happening at the time. Often if any exhibition was centred on Black people, organisers left out any involvement or voices from the subjects of the exhibition. The ‘Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900–1968’ exhibition was held in 1968 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and curated by Thomas Hoving, it was themed around the Black-dominated and culturally enriched area of Harlem, New York. The exhibition was met with significant backlash and protest due to its lack of artwork by actual Black artists and reactionary actions were commenced; defacement of European artworks & the creation of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC). Later in 1976, the exhibition ‘Two Centuries of Black American Art’ would be held by the Black Arts Council, revealing the hidden African American art which allowed for greater visibility and validation for those artists. This would become the first exhibition to focus on African American art shown to an American audience. The documentary touched on the unique dynamics of exclusion with the misogyny involved in the Black art world, with female painter, Faith Ringgold being rejected from Black art collectives as well as highlighting the lack of solo Black female art exhibitions being held in the 70s. This documentary covered various artists such as Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Jordan Casteel, Lyle Ashton Harris, Alison Saar and many more.
The documentary's key points can be summarised as highlighting the importance of Black visibility, one way is through making the Black body depicted with artists such as Kerry James Marshall focusing on only painting Black people, this stemming from him going to museums, and believing his work nor people who looked like him could be present in a museum. His work acts as a political stance to change that narrative. This can also be achieved through Black art spaces such as The Studio Museum in Harlem to build community and support artists. And lastly having Black curators and collectors who can connect with the artwork and essentially have a seat at the table to create a more inclusive art world.
Despite there being improvements in Black artists gaining visibility and support over the past decades, statistics show that many of these artists are still being side-lined within American museums and mainstream institutions. But why exactly is visibility important?
"In Western popular cultures, the artistic innovations by the peoples of the African diaspora are celebrated and proliferate, yet their popularity has not mitigated the dehumanizing social institutions and racial hierarchy which limits the life chances of Afro-diasporic peoples. The troubling irony is that while the artistic and cultural expressions of people of African descent are vociferously consumed by white audiences, these audiences and institutions consistently fail to recognize the humanity of peoples of African descent" - Dr. Mark V. Campbell
This documentary helped me understand and conclude who my key audiences are for my project and who the beneficiaries will be. I want this project to be a contribution to the lack of Black art in the digital art & creative computing spaces, made specifically for Black consumption. Meaning I want input from Black artists and how they will depict my work and investigate ways my graduate project can change or influence these existing narratives on Black art in computing spaces.
Solange: Visual collaborations with Alan Ferguson & Carlota Guerrero
Alternative RnB singer Solange is highly known for symbolic visualises usually surrounding the black experience and the idea of Afro-futurism. In her short film titled the same as her album, she explores the idea of Blackness in a post-apocalypse world and the interesting experiences that would come along with that.
"Afrofuturism is a tool that Solange is able to use to imagine what this Black future can look like beyond our current state of oppression. In this sense, I will be using Dr. Susana Morris’ definition of Afrofuturism to explain its application in When I Get Home. She defines Afrofuturism as “a way of knowing, understanding, and creating in the world that transgresses the bounds of Western notions of progress, identity, and futurity” (Morris, 34). Solange’s use of Black people and technology has a purpose larger than aesthetics. Their juxtaposition in the piece allows Solange to speak on new possibilities for blackness."
I feel like the concept of afro-futurism is highly relevant to my project and allows me to think of the ways technology and computing can enhance the Black experience and contribute to the world of Afro-futurism.
Section 2: Related AI Projects / Practitioners
David Cope
David Cope is an American, Born in 1941 in San Francisco. He is one of the greatest contributors to the advancement of artificially composed music. He has the title of a musician, researcher, professor and more. "Throughout his career, David created EMI (Experiments in Music Intelligence), published a number of books, and journal articles and released a series of records with artificially composed songs. All companies and researchers that currently work in this field, such as AIVA, Sony CSL, owe a great deal to the incredible theoretical and practical advancements produced by David."
Refik Anadol
Refik Anadadol is a Turkish-American new media artist who specialises in machine learning, he is most known for creating 'The computer that can dream' his work often is about trying to create visual art using artificial intelligence that results in beautiful canvas and shows that combine a symbiotic relationship between architecture, science, technology, and media arts.
"Anadol and his team collect data from digital archives and publicly available resources, then process the millions of photographic memories with machine learning classification models. The sorted image datasets are then clustered into thematic categories to better understand the semantic context of the data universe. This expanding data universe not only represents the interpolation of data as synthesis, but also becomes a latent cosmos in which hallucinative potential is the main channel of artistic creativity. As a thoroughly curated multi-channel experience, Machine Hallucination offers a new form of sensational autonomy via cybernetic serendipity."
Yona AI
YONA is a virtual singer-songwriter and AI poet. "On 23 August 2019, coinciding with their major summer exhibition AI: More than Human, London’s Barbican introduces AI popstar Yona, one of the world’s foremost virtual entertainers. Yona was created by Auxuman, a company that builds virtual entertainers and the worlds they live in. Yona is the brainchild of musician Ash Koosha and artist Isabella Winthrop, who programmed her with the ability to create her own lyrics, chords and melodies. The result is atmospheric electronic music that has complexity and emotional depth that belies its ‘artificial’ production."
Victor Dibia - COCO - Africa
Victor Dibia, is a Principal Research Software Engineer at Microsoft who researches the field of Human-Computer Interaction, Applied AI and Computational Social Science. He created a project called CO-CO Africa (https://victordibia.com/cocoafrica/) using a collection tool and image dataset l to create generate images from traditional African masks to create these generate masks.
Section 3: The Project Preparation
Data and research material
(Contemporary Machine Learning for Audio and Music Generation on the Web: Current Challenges and Potential Solutions) - Mick Grierson - https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/15058/1/ICMC2018-MG-MYK-LM-MZ-CK-CAMERA-READY.pdf
(Machine Learning Education for Artists, Musicians, and Other Practitioners) - Rebecca Fiebrink https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/15453/1/Fiebrink_TOCE2019_Accepted.pdf
(Research data in the creative and performing arts) - Daniela Duca https://researchdata.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2016/11/22/research-data-creative-performing-arts/
(Processing - Generative Design Tutorial instructions for the creation of computational art) - Manuel Kretzer http://responsivedesign.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/tutorial-06_processing-soundmapping2.pdf
The chosen genres
