Tarcila Neves
Canada
Where do you locate yourself in relation to the systems you work with?
I locate myself at the threshold of "metabolic processing." Drawing from the Brazilian Modernist concept of Antropofagia (cultural cannibalism), I do not simply use AI systems; I digest them. I stand between the chaotic "hallucination" of the generative model and the discipline of my Fine Arts background. My position is one of active intervention rather than passive prompting. I view the system not as an oracle but as a raw material source that requires correction. I use digital painting (Procreate) to manually intervene in the machine’s output—fixing anatomical errors and smoothing artifacts—forcing the synthetic data to align with the precision of my hand. I am not a user of the system; I am its editor and regulator, ensuring that my human agency remains the dominant force.
Where are you heading, and what is pulling you there?
I am heading toward a synthesis of "Ancestral Reclamation," moving with a recursive velocity—going forward into technology to retrieve what was left behind. I am pulled by the urgent need to repair the generic, often biased representations of Black and Indigenous history found in default datasets. In my recent work, such as the Roots of Resilience collection, I resist the pull of the "average" image. Instead, I guide the algorithm toward the specific textures of my heritage by training it on my own family archives and moodboards. I am driven by a desire to outpace the noise of the crowd, using the speed of AI to construct a high-fidelity visual language that honors the complexity of mixed identity, turning the "rancor" of survival into a legacy of digital permanence.
How would you describe the space your practice is currently unfolding in?
My practice unfolds in a "hybrid sanctuary" where nature supersedes the social crowd. It is a liminal space where the struggle for survival is transmuted into a quiet, protected existence. I construct worlds that prioritize animals, organic forms, and matriarchal figures, deliberately stripping away the chaotic noise of the modern public sphere. This space is not static; it actively deforms the boundary between the physical and the digital through Augmented Reality (AR). By layering animation over physical prints, I create a "post-human" environment where the viewer is invited to step inside a zone of healing—one where the machine is tamed by the artist, and the trauma of the past is overwritten by the digital beauty of the future.
