Nygilia
United Kingdom
Where do you locate yourself in relation to the systems you work with?
I locate myself as a Caribbean diaspora researcher and artist whose work is rooted in a deeply personal inheritance. Growing up outside of Jamaica, my father’s stories about his birthplace in Portland were more than just memories; they were the cultural transmissions that bridged the gap between my physical location in New York and my ancestral lineage. This positions me in a unique transitional space where I am simultaneously privileged and displaced. I have access to advanced academic and technological frameworks, yet I am removed from the everyday, embodied knowledge that comes from residing on the island. Because of this, I view my relationship with digital systems not just as a creative choice, but as a 'relational accountability' to my heritage. I use technology as a deliberate methodological intervention to ensure these stories, which are a part of me by bloodline but not by geography, can thrive in digital spaces without being reduced to colonial or commercial commodities.
Where are you heading, and what is pulling you there?
I am heading toward a practice that moves beyond isolated technological experiments and into the realm of sustained, parallel development strategies that directly connect to community sovereignty. What is pulling me there is the realization that effective cultural preservation cannot be achieved through technological consolidation alone. Instead, it requires a fundamental restructuring of how these tools are developed and deployed. I am drawn to the challenge of overcoming the 'geographic and temporal distance' that has previously limited my work, aiming to foster deeper, reciprocal relationships that ensure digital tools are not just extractive, but are true 'portals' for engaging with place-based knowledge. Ultimately, I am pulled toward a future where African/Caribbean communities can autonomously select and combine these modular digital toolkits to safeguard their own cultural sovereignty on their own terms, stories, and creative freedom.
How would you describe the space your practice is currently unfolding in?
My practice unfolds in what I see as a nostalgic-posthuman realm—a digital territory where the boundaries between technological mediation, natural processes, and human awareness become fluid and generative rather than fixed. This space is a 'mythological architecture' that I am exploring using generative and VR tools, where I treat digital strokes as three-dimensional entities. It is a site of 'technological decolonization'. I am not just creating art, but developing a digital environment where Caribbean folklore and ancestral presences, like River Mumma, can exist with their own spiritual agency. It’s a space that functions as a portal, bridging the geographic distance of the diaspora and allowing cultural memory to evolve in real-time.
Artist Statement
My creative practice is fundamentally about technological sovereignty. For too long, Black communities have been systematically excluded from the development of digital tools while simultaneously being subjected to their biased outputs. AI systems trained on datasets that underrepresent or misrepresent Black experiences with visual violence through algorithmic discrimination. In early gaming applications, character creation for cultures originating from Africa or its diaspora was either in small quantities or subjected to bias. This was due to a lack of staff who can articulate those features, such as through 3D programming, or at least understand their visual importance from a cultural perspective. I refuse to be a passive recipient of these limitations. Working with AI is an act of reclamation. When I program Touch Designer to interface with AI generation, blend 3D modelling with machine learning, or experiment with narrative algorithms to create variations of my character worlds. I'm actively exploring what a black digital existence would look like through gaming-inspired spaces, developing and testing different systems that can evolve our narratives or make new ones. Whether we embrace AI or resist it, the technology will continue growing. The question isn't whether AI will shape visual culture, it's whether we'll be the ones shaping AI. My work insists that we must be. Every image generated, every character designed, every cultural reference embedded in my practice is a vote for the kind of technological future I want to see. One where African and Diaspora imagination isn't limited by historical exclusion, but liberated by intentional inclusion.
Published in >
The AI Art Magazine, Number 2
Description
Echoes of Eden is a collection that evokes a sense of nostalgia and wonder. Inspired by the ancient and mystical Garden of Eden, within a posthumanistic perspective. Each character in this world was created by combining elements of a generative process through OpenAI, Javascript via Processing, Photoshop, and Touch Designer.
Process
What inspired me was the inspiration I gained from video games like "Final Fantasy", where characters transform into something otherworldly during battles. I wanted to combine code and AI to evolve these digital beings into new Afrofuturistic forms.
Tools
I used JavaScript in Processing, OpenAI (Dalle-2), Photoshop, and Touch Designer to assist in making these experimental pieces. This unique workflow enabled me to enjoy the various outputs, which created abstract layers in new media conversations.
