Robyn Holly Taylor-Neu

This research investigates how artists use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other creative digital methods to visualize (im)migrants’ stories. As generative-AI technologies have rapidly improved, the status of digitally-circulated images has become increasingly fraught. I approach this perceived crisis of evidentiality from a different angle, by exploring how some creators are using reflexively “synthetic” media to depict displacement, forced migration, and (im)migrant detainment. In so doing, these actors are intervening in another situation framed as a “crisis”: a steep increase in irregular migration, fueled by political violence, economic instability, and environmental disaster. While photojournalistic images can amplify (im)migrants’ narratives, critics assert that they risk racializing (im)migrants and bolstering state surveillance. Accordingly, artists and activists are developing methods of reanimating (im)migrants’ testimonies without the use of photographic documentation. These creators propose that such “synthetic” images can harness the power of photographs while surpassing the limits of in-situ documentation and preserving displaced persons’ privacy. Through ethnographic research, I’ll engage Berlin-based and transnational creators who are using what I call “fabular documentary” methods to animate (im)migrants’ stories. I’ll explore: how these creators navigate tensions between fabrication and evidentiality; what techniques/ technologies they use; and the political and ethical stakes of such projects.